Nakka, K: Life Styles of Working and Non-Working Wives

This book ‘Life styles of working and non-working wives‘ is a critical analysis of the changing roles of women in the 20th century Indian families and puts forward an argument for the concomitant changes in the roles of the other spouse, the husband. The book also argues for changes in the social norms and values. Though modernization has brought changes in the lifestyles of Indian urban families, a majority of them remained orthodox and conventional from within. The changes in the roles of women have not brought accompanying changes in the roles of men as partners. In spite of the women holding jobs, they are expected to continue their traditional role of homemaker. This resulted in a dissonance between values and norms held by men and women leading to the so called double burden for the working women. In fact, though the author speaks here only of urban middle class educated wives, she makes a valuable addition to knowledge by bringing a comparison between the problems of working and non-working wives with regard to child care, sharing of housework, elder care, perceptions about marital relations, leisure time activities and problems at workplace.