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by Joseph Newton
In one day recently, each of the following conver
sations took place in my office:
An executive, just transferred from another
city, was bemoaning the fact that he might lose an
excellent deal on a car if he didn't close it right away.
When I asked why he didn't go ahead and make the
deal, he looked at me incredulously.
"Without my wife seeing it?" he asked. "Nothing
doing. I wouldn't even consider buying it without
getting her okay first."
Another office friend was leaving early to meet an
important business acquaintance who was coming
through town. When I said idly, "I suppose you'll
have him out to the house for dinner," he shook his
head with a worried frown and answered: "No, I just
couldn't ask my wife to do it tonight. It's her bridge
club night, you know."
One of the members of a luncheon group I attend
begged off at the last minute. "I have to exchange
some clothes for my wife," he explained. "She couldn't
get downtown. Had a PTA meeting."
And when I asked another friend if he'd like to
join our Thursday night poker club, he told me: "My
wife doesn't approve of gambling, and it's not worth
making a big fuss about. Besides, I don't know where
I'd get the money on our budget. It's already burst
ing at the seams."
Yes, the girls have the situation well in hand; they
are planted firmly in the saddle. In fact, the American
housewife has never had it so good. And the sad part
of it is that she doesn't appreciate it.
Today, our whole American way of life revolves
around the housewife. She has become the dominant
force in our society. The signs are apparent every
where. Advertising even of hard lines is being di
rected to the women because they do most of the
buying. Large corporations on the advice of expen
sive public-relations consultants are studiously cul
tivating executives' wives on the oft-proved theory
that if the little woman isn't completely satisfied, the
husband's work is bound to suffer.
Women are running for political office and com
muter trains. They are flexing their delicate biceps in
local civic organizations and school boards. More and
more, they are handling family finances, dealing with
tradesmen, disciplining the children.
In modern marriages, women insist loudly on a
"partnership" and "equal rights" when what they
really want is to wallow in the security of marriage
while taking roundhouse swings at the habits of the
men who make that security possible. It's a real cozy
arrangement for the girls. But it has some unfortu
nate consequences.
The other day, I had to tell my teen-age daughter
flatly that she couldn't do something she wanted to
do very badly. She complained bitterly until finally
I had to tell her either to behave or go up. to her room.
"This is a democracy, isn't it?" she said angrily.
"Don't I have any rights around here?"
When I told her "Very few," I practically shocked
her into speechlessness.
Today's youth have become obsessed with the idea
that family life is a debating society with every
problem and decision to be weighed and discussed
and finally voted on for popularity. This is a direct
outgrowth of the woman's new and loudly proclaimed
equality program. Everybody wants equal rights these
days including the kids.
Actually, raising children and, to a certain extent,
other aspects of family life requires a good degree
(Continued on page 19)
Family Weekly, October 13, 1957 7
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