The working woman’s dilemma
Over the past half century, women have made enormous strides into the workplace, including previously male-dominated professions. More than ever, women are serving as executives for major organizations and are starting their own businesses.
Unfortunately, women’s success in the working world has not been counterbalanced by a reduction in their responsibilities at home. Statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor last year reveal that women are still doing the vast majority of housework, including childcare, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping for household amenities.
On an average day, half of all women are completing chores and errands, while only 19 percent of men are contributing to running the household. Even when men do pitch in, they tend to spend less hours on housework, while women often cut into their work time or overbook and overstress themselves to manage both their careers and their households.
Working Woman’s Wife seeks to serve ambitious women
An Austin-based startup wants to help ambitious women who “have long been without the advantages wives have provided to men.” The Working Woman’s Wife is an all-around personal assistance and concierge service fulfilling many of the housewifely functions that have long given men a leg-up in the business world.
According to the Working Woman’s Wife, women complete an average of 18 hours per week of unpleasant and unpaid work, which means they have less time to advance their careers or spend quality time with their families. When you hire a “wife,” she will complete many of these tasks for you, including office task such as emails and data entry, organization of your personal spaces or office, pet care, party planning and cleanup, cooking, laundry, running errands, personal shopping, and chauffeuring. They can even hang out at your place until the repairman shows up, so you don’t have to waste half a day of work taking care of a household problem.
Evaluating the pricing
Wives are available by purchasing packages of hours in increments of 30, 60, 80, or 100 hours per month, starting at $900 per month. Currently the Working Woman’s Wife serves the Austin, Texas area, but they are hoping to open chapters in Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Boulder, and the Silicon Valley.
Hiring a “wife” seems like a great way for career women to save themselves some time and stress. However, I can’t help but wonder who will be helping your “wife” run her own household while she is busily tending to yours. It’s great to see women wanting to help out other women, but maybe it would be better if men would step up to the plate. In lieu of $900 per month, perhaps you can convince your hubby to pick up some of the slack instead.
#WorkingWomansWife
Ted Manasa
October 13, 2015 at 10:58 am
Hi Ellen,
Thanks for the write up!
Please allow me to address your point about men stepping up: Men should not “step up” and take on these tasks if his career advancement and his time with his wife/partner and children are worth MORE than $30/hr.
Whatever time he spends doing those things, he suffers the same setbacks that his wife/partner does. Before my wife got her Professional Wife, I took on much of the home tasks. That slowed down my career dramatically and reduced the amount of time I could spend with both my wife and my kids.
None of us were happy.
Remember, a Professional Wife gives time back to the whole family, not just to the woman of the house.
Furthermore, your Professional Wife is often someone who has been a fantastic housekeeper for years for her own family, but who now realizes that she should be paid for her skill. We pay her for that skill because we respect that skill.
Getting a Professional Wife provides a win for the woman of the household, her husband/partner, children, and the Professional Wife herself.
Everyone rises together.
That is the way forward and our mission!
Ted Manasa, COO
The Working Woman’s Wife
Behind Every Great Woman™