Housewife

A housewife is a woman whose main occupation is running or managing her family's home—caring for and educating her children, cooking and storing food, buying goods the family needs in day-to-day life, cleaning and maintaining the home, making clothes for the family, etc.—and who is generally not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household. The British Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (1901) defined a housewife as: "the mistress of a household; a female domestic manager; a pocket sewing kit".

The related term homemaker has almost the same meaning but is not limited to women and does not connote marriage.

Sociology and economics

Some feminists and non-feminist economists (particularly proponents of historical materialism) note that the value of housewives' work is ignored in standard formulations of economic output, such as GDP or employment figures. Housewives work many unrecorded hours a week, while depending for money on their husband's or partner's employment.

Housewife (film)

Housewife is a 1934 American drama film directed by Alfred E. Green. The screenplay by Manuel Seff and Lillie Hayward is based on a story by Hayward and Robert Lord.

Plot

Nan Reynolds (Ann Dvorak) struggles to run the household on her meek husband Bill's (George Brent) meager salary as an office manager. She urges him to apply for better jobs elsewhere, but he is disinclined to take risks, and his lack of ambition is placing a strain on their marriage.

Pat Berkeley (Bette Davis), who attended high school with Nan and Bill, is hired by his firm as an advertising copywriter, and her success prompts Nan to coerce her husband into asserting himself with his boss. When he fails to spark any interest with his ideas, Bill succumbs to his wife's suggestion that he start his own agency using the money she has managed to save. Spurred by Nan, he steals a major client from his former firm and hires Pat to help him handle it. Complications arise when the feelings the two had for each other years before are reignited and they embark upon an affair. Nan becomes aware of their relationship but chooses to ignore it.

Housewife (The Cribs song)

'Housewife' arrived in August 2010 as a one-off release, and their fourth single overall, by the four-piece incarnation of British indie rock band The Cribs. On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would play a brand new song that night, something previously hinted at on the official band website several days previously. The release took fans and critics by surprise due to the secretive nature of the release.

Physical release

Recorded at West Heath Studios, London by Ryan with assistance from frequent collaborator Edwyn Collins, John O'Mahony mixed the song at Sunset Sound Factory, Hollywood, California. The vinyl received the catalogue number 'WEBB271S'. A traditional set-up for the band, except with Ryan providing work on organ.

Etching and poem

Unlike the majority of Cribs releases, the 7" vinyl featured no b-side. Instead, an etching appeared with the words 'SCAM', in addition to a message on the run-out groove stating 'insert me into your computer for additional content'. A poem, containing allusions to the song, appears on the back cover. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary dressed as the title of the single suggests, shot by Pat Graham, with the sleeve designed by Nick Scott, receiving assistance by Owen Richards, Corrado and Nell Frizzell.