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| Must read:
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| The Wife Drought
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Successful women need wives, not husbands
When Tony Abbott announced a cabinet with only one female minister, ABC's chief online political writer and columnist for the Fairfax Sunday papers, TV presenter, cook and mum of three children Annabel Crabb began to think about why there are still so few women in politics. The result of this musing is her brilliant new book, The Wife Drought.
"One of the factors that's often missed", said Crabb in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, "is that male politicians tend to have these fabulous spouses who juggle their work and take on a disproportionate share of domestic duties and play a quasi-political role at functions. I reckon if women had half a chance of getting a spouse like that, more of them would go into politics"!
When Crabb wrote a column along those lines, she was overwhelmed by correspondence from working women who echoed the wish: "I need a wife!"
She found that in 60 per cent of Australian families with children under 15, the father works full-time and the mother works part-time or not at all. But a surprisingly low three per cent do the reverse.
While unequal opportunities, income, mentoring, parental leave and childcare arrangements play a part, Crabb believes that our behaviour is socially contrived: Women feel guilty if they don't carry the burden of housework and childcare, and men are not encouraged to step back from work.
"Australians are weirdly attached to the male-breadwinner model", says Crabb. "It's a tragedy, because a) men miss out, b) the family misses out and c) women end up overstretched stress-heads".
It's a common joke among women juggling work and family. But it's not actually a joke. Having a spouse who takes care of things at home is a Godsend on the domestic front. It's a potent economic asset on the work front. And it's an advantage enjoyed - even in our modern society - by vastly more men than women.
 Working women are in an advanced, sustained, and chronically under-reported state of wife drought, and there is no sign of rain.
But why is the work-and-family debate always about women? Why don't men get the same flexibility that women do? In our fixation on the barriers that face women on the way into the workplace, do we forget about the barriers that - for men - still block the exits?
The Wife Drought is about women, men, family and work. Written in Annabel Crabb's inimitable style, it's full of candid and funny stories from the author's work in and around politics and the media, together with historical nuggets about the role of 'The Wife' in Australia, and intriguing research about the attitudes that pulse beneath the surface of egalitarian Australia.
Crabb's call is for a ceasefire in the gender wars. Rather than a shout of rage, The Wife Drought is the thoughtful, engaging catalyst for a conversation that's long overdue.
The Wife Drought, published by Random House and her new series of Kitchen Cabinet is now on the ABC.
See more at randomhouse.com.au.
We have THREE copies of The Wife Drought to giveaway worth ($34.99). Just tell us in 25 words or less what you think needs to be done to break the wife drought. competition@careforkids.com.au |
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