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Annabel Crabb
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The Wife Drought Kindle Edition

by Annabel Crabb (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 787
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'I need a wife'

It’s a common joke among women juggling work and family. But it’s not actually a joke. Having a spouse who takes care of things at home is a Godsend on the domestic front. It’s a potent economic asset on the work front. And it’s an advantage enjoyed – even in our modern society – by vastly more men than women.

Working women are in an advanced, sustained, and chronically under-reported state of wife drought, and there is no sign of rain.

But why is the work-and-family debate always about women? Why don’t men get the same flexibility that women do? In our fixation on the barriers that face women on the way into the workplace, do we forget about the barriers that – for men – still block the exits?

The Wife Drought is about women, men, family and work. Written in Annabel Crabb’s inimitable style, it’s full of candid and funny stories from the author’s work in and around politics and the media, historical nuggets about the role of ‘The Wife’ in Australia, and intriguing research about the attitudes that pulse beneath the surface of egalitarian Australia.

Crabb’s call is for a ceasefire in the gender wars. Rather than a shout of rage, The Wife Drought is the thoughtful, engaging catalyst for a conversation that’s long overdue.
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  1. Print length
    277 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Random House Australia
  5. Publication date
    1 October 2014
  6. File size
    1084 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

"Annabel Crabb is one of Australia s most popular political commentators, a Walkley-awarded writer, and the host of Australia s first dedicated political cooking show, ABC TV s Kitchen Cabinet. She writes for ABC Online s The Drum and has worked extensively in TV and radio. She is a columnist for the Sunday Age, Sun-Herald and Canberra s Sunday Times, and has worked as a political correspondent and sketchwriter for titles including the Advertiser, the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and as London correspondent for Fairfax s Sunday papers. She won a Walkley Award for her 2009 essay on Malcolm Turnbull, and was Australia s 2011 Eisenhower Fellow. Annabel is an enthusiastic social media user and tweets about politics and food as @annabelcrabb. She lives in Sydney with her partner, Jeremy, and their three children."

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00L0OOV4Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Australia (1 October 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1084 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 787

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Annabel Crabb

Annabel Crabb

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4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
787 global ratings

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Top reviews from Australia

FiCo
5.0 out of 5 stars What every wife needs - a wife!
Reviewed in Australia on 6 October 2018
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Annabel Crabb is a witty intelligent woman, who has a sharp eye and clear reporting style. Here she looks around at her cohort set and recognises that all successful men have a wife at home keeping the family together and the fires burning. But the women rarely have a man at home keeping happiness and hearth together. Why not? Do woman have to be super-women? And why doesn't our society support the idea of the house-husband? This is a great read that will get you thinking about the change that has to happen.
2 people found this helpful
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Tony Sutherland
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to digest summary of the current state of affairs
Reviewed in Australia on 14 June 2018
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Nothing spectacularly ground breaking here, apart from the emphasis on thinking about men's roles in this changing social milieu. Nevertheless, an easy to digest summary with in an edible colloquial style that should be a mandated read for all couples today.
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Emily K Yorkston
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most beautifully scripted people-first arguments for change I've reaf
Reviewed in Australia on 5 January 2018
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There are many hefty tomes, lefty op eds and shouty blogs on why women get stuck outside the C suite. This is one of the best pieces of writing in the subject I've encountered for its humanist, not sexist, thesis: both women and men need to change for change to happen. Plus, if I can learn to write as eloquently, descriptively and passionately as Annabel, I'll be well pleased.
One person found this helpful
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Hulazaan
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 6 June 2018
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Goes on a bit!
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painsy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Entertaining Gave insights into male and female ...
Reviewed in Australia on 14 November 2014
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Great book. Entertaining Gave insights into male and female attitudes towards each other, work and managing a household. It didn't give me much hope that things would be changing in the short term but it is a good start to discussions about trying to increase flexibility into the lives of both men and women. In the seventies I worked and my husband stayed home with the kids and I was surprised to find the after all those years this is still very much a minority type of family arrangement. Seems it is too hard for men to admit they like children and domesticity.
2 people found this helpful
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Mungus
4.0 out of 5 stars great read
Reviewed in Australia on 6 April 2015
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A insightful book that tells it like it is for men as well as women, we've come a long way but still have a long way to go
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Pamela Griffith
5.0 out of 5 stars A gifted woman like Annabel has to find ways of surviving or being ...
Reviewed in Australia on 26 March 2015
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Annabel Crabb has built on a common theme and updated the way women have to adapt to lack of support in our culture. I remember wishing for and using the phrase, "I need a wife," in my forties and it is interesting to me in my seventies to see how little has changed for a creative woman who wishes to work full time following their passion. A gifted woman like Annabel has to find ways of surviving or being prepared to wear herself out trying to run home, family and work as well as personal development. www.pamelagriffith.com
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in Australia on 25 November 2019
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Fascinating insight into the roles and expectations of women and men and society on who should work, who should raise children and who should earn the money. Well written and researched. Easy to read
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Top reviews from other countries

Naomi Thomson
5.0 out of 5 stars Hot the nail on the head
Reviewed in Germany on 19 October 2019
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A well thought out and researched cross-sectional review on the expectations and limitations of ‚traditional‘ gender stereotyping from a realistic author.
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jazzycar
5.0 out of 5 stars A great, funny but thought provoking book - highly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on 13 September 2015
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This is a great book - well-researched, interesting, funny and incisive, but without being strident or nasty. Crabb thoroughly dissects a range of factors that may contribute to the differences in outcomes for men and women in the workplace, without pointing fingers or slapping blame at any particular group's feet and while managing to retain her sense of humour. Yet, she still manages to make a very good case that the workplace in Australia is not equal, and that this is largely because the society and our homes are still far from equal. This book is easy to read, and laugh out loud funny in some places, but also truly thought provoking. Well done, Annabel Crabb! I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in equality and Australian society generally.
One person found this helpful
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glynis wendy trenouth
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 February 2015
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Riveting!
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Nesscafé
4.0 out of 5 stars Wife wanted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 April 2018
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I don't normally read non-fiction titles, but this was recommended by a friend and I trust her views.
This book is funny, insightful and I found myself highlighting chunks of text to read aloud to a work colleague (I don't know that he enjoyed that as much as I did...) given recent conversations we've had.
There is a humour to the writing that I really enjoyed and I felt it worked well, in that it didn't detract from the very serious messaging of the book.
Only reason I dropped a star was because I felt I understood what was being said early in the piece and there was some repetition in the later chapters.
Having said that, it certainly left me wanting a wife.
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AGF
4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read.
Reviewed in the United States on 27 February 2015
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First I must admit to admiring Annabel Crabb's contributions to the Australian political landscape for many years now. I have enjoyed her calm, rational & even handed approach to topics which usually generate debate amongst interested parties.

I found the book thought provoking (hence the title given to this review) & written in a "comfortable" style that matches the author's personality. Frank, openminded, explorative, non-accusatory, & sprinkled with appropriate humour...what more can one ask for from an author?

The author doesn't contend to have all the answers, but as with any meaningful written piece it is more the review of the status quo & the generation of ideas which can then act as a catalyst for a dialectic discussion that matters.

My only critique is that there were so many references to this study & that study that, for this dopey brain at least, I started to lose the trees in the woods. But this is only a minor critique.

The revelation of the book? That there is a Geena Davis Institute on Genda in Media. Who would of thought?

Buy, read, digest & enjoy.
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