Would A Man Change Jobs With His Wife?

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28606, 7 June 1958, Page 2

Would A Man Change Jobs With His Wife?

When a housewife greets her husband with: “Oh, what an awful day I’ve had,’’ as soon as he comes into the house,»the man immediately begins to compare her job as a homemaker with his own—the task of earning the daily bread.

Perhaps he, too, has had a few upsets at the office during the day. Slightly irritated, he begins to count his wife’s blessings. She is at home all day, free to take her time about her chores, while he has to work against the clock, catching buses and mails and keeping appointments to the minute. She has the easy time of it; he is the hard-worked member of the household in need of peace and relaxation when he comes home, he decides. But let him think again. Would he change places? Men in various occupations were asked this question yesterday, and not one would like to take the responsibility of running a home and a family for long. “Wonderful Job’’ A journalist said: “No, I wouldn’t like to be a housewife for even half a day. It means learning a completely .new job and my wife knows just where everything is. Producing a dinner which’ is piping hot froiji the meat to mashed potatoes is a feat I have not yet achieved. Either I forget to warm the plates or 1 put the roast in the oven too soon, so I give up. Wives do a wonderful job, and probably solve more crises in a day than their husbands in their offices would in a week. If she has anyone elderly to look after there is no reprieve. We can leave the house and go to our smoothly-run offices, but not so the woman. Even % when I try washing up I find the sink bench the wrong height.” “I am not too sure I would like to take on the full responsibility—and it is a responsibility—of running the home, but I always do all the shopping although my wife is at home all the time,” said a paint salesman. “I was once a grocer and grew a few vegetables for the local show, so I feel at an advantage when buying the provisions. I go for value and can tell at a glance whether a cabbage is a week old. My wife doesn’t object to my dabbling in the domestic side of our marriage and I enjoy it.’’ The manager of a shop: “ ‘lt’s as easy as pie’—that’s what we

all think until we • try it. My wife was in hospital a month or so ago and although there might be a host of helpful neighbours, nothing can take the place of the wife in the home,* especially with two small daughters to look after. I would not change places with her. I could not stand the pace.’’ A young doctor said that when he was studying for his degree in the United States his wife was the official breadwinner while he produced the meals and kept the home running. “I don’t think I would want to do it again, although at the time if worked out quite well,’’ he said..

It seems that all wives are welcome to their kitchen sinks and most men enjoy the life they lead. But it doesn’t prevent the occasional moan about the lack of spare time on either side.