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WANTED: FEMAL
lifetime
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for exciting
osition
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Positaon
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' 'WANTED: FEMALE.
Prefera–
bly age
23-25.
Position
to be filled is that of
wife and mother. Accepted appli–
cant will have responsible position
as fuUy equal partner. Position re–
quires professional talents: back–
ground in child training, home
decorating, money management.
Experience as first-class chef and
seamstress necessary. Must be avid
reader with wide variety of interests.
Sorne experience in buying and sell–
ing real estate, though not essential,
would be useful."
This, of course, is an idealistic
"want ad." Such an ad might con–
tinue: "Position requires positive
mental outlook. Employer does not
subscribe to the definition of a
housewife as 'one who does not
work for a living.'
"Employer guarantees a balance
between romanticism and realism.
There will be candle-light dinners
and boating by moonlight on occa–
sion. But future responsibilities will
include feeding of infant during
dinner and possible moonlight dia–
per changes. All such duiies, in–
cluding dish washing (for which
others wouJd be paid), will be re-
PLAIN TRUTH April 1973
by
Paul W. Kroll
garded as part of ao overall lifetime
responsibili ty.
"Position is very secure. Lifetirne
tenure guaranteed by a binding con–
tract which has no legal Joopholes.
Of course, death of either party ter–
minates contract."
By
Contrast - Hard
Reality
The preceding "want ad" is a de–
scription of what a woman might
consider as an exciting marriage.
Most wives down through the cen–
turies have not been happy. Over–
worked, undereducated , often
regarded as only "near-persons,"
many women have seldom consid–
ered their role as the next thing
to paradise. Even today, in many
cultures, most women are still
overworked, undereducated and are
regarded as hardly more than chat–
tel.
But what about the typical mar–
ried woman in our affiuent Western
world? For millions of them, mar–
riage is often one big, soapy dishpan
of boredom. Pícture sorne of the real
or irnagined problems which such
a wife often encouoters.
Hubby isn' t borne very much. At
7:00a.m., ít's a cup of coffee and a
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hurried "good-bye"; at 6 p.m., it's
"Hí, am
1
tired!" foUowed by, "Did
you say you had a boring day today,
dear? Well, let me tell you what
happened at the office ...."
Or maybe he's the type of hus–
band who drags himself through the
front door, plops into his favorite
chaír, props two haíry legs up on the
hassock and guzzles a can of beer
while mesmerized by the television.
Switch tbe scene. Sbe's nineteen;
been married three months. Baby ís
six roonths old. The apartment is
small and dilapidated. Tbe baby
is
screaming as usual. And all tbe
postman will bríng are bills, bilis,
bilis.
This wife pic1<s up a women's
magazine. "Look at all those gor–
geous women. (And wíth their own
cigarette!) That could be me," she
thinks to herself. But it isn't. It's
rather difficult to even live on the
small salary her husband earns.
Scene three. It's Harlem, Bedford–
Stuyvesant, the late Pruitt-Igoe, per–
haps Watts or Roxbury, U.S.A. Or it
could be the slums outside París or
London or on the hílls overlooking
spectacular Río.
Let's enter a classic American
tenement fl.at. The smell of urine
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