The Captive Wife: Conflicts of Housebound Mothers

Emancipated women today face a conflict of values: they are educated and socialized to expect the same things from life as men - yet as wives, and particularly as mothers, they are obliged to subordinate their more contemporary roles for the sake of their family.Investigating this conflict Hannah Gavron has talked to a sample of middle- and working-class mothers and elicited answers to such questions as: How far do children tie mothers to the house and limit independence? Do mothers envisage a lifetime in the maternal role? How far is there real equality in marriage? And do mothers find their freedom restricted before they have really been free at all?In this lucid and compassionate study Hannah Gavron describes the social and historical background of the captive wife, drawn conclusions from her survey, and discusses possible routes of escape.