Essais Documents Le Menage

HOUSEWORK THE FAIRY, THE WITCH AND THE NEW MAN There seems little to invite interest in the subject of housework which is seen at worst as a boring chore and at best as a good indicator of the inequalities between men and women. And yet, under Christine Castelain Meunier's perceptive pen, it proves a valuable revelation of changing habits that statistics alone do not show. Through countless varied and sometimes surprising personal accounts, we come to understand that these very banal household chores hide as much pleasure as routine or boredom, as much innovation as inherited tradition. By observing the thousand and one different ways of doing housework, we see shifts in couples' relationships and their division of chores, how single fathers organise their lives, and the same for homosexual couples, and we see the changing distinctions between dirty and clean, and tidy and untidy in a subject area that is expanded to incorporate environmental considerations.It transpires that a more egalitarian model is emerging behind the dishcloths and dusters, that the witch's broom has an ecological conscience and that - in a new 'homely democracy' - the household fairy can be toppled from her throne by new man and sometimes even by a child. Christine Castelain Meunier is a sociologist at the CNRS research centre and is widely known for her work on trends from masculine to feminine behaviour. She has written many books including Les Métamorphoses du masculin (2004), Cramponnez-vous les pères. Les hommes face à leurs femmes et à leurs enfants (1992) and L'amour en moins. L'apprentissage sentimental (1991).