Kay Smallshaw

I just finished How to Run Your Home Without Help - one of Persephone's 'oddities' that I picked up second hand for a few dollars on line.

It was, I thought, both very entertaining and very sad. I was raised by a mother who might've owned an original copy of this book, who washed every Monday, ironed every Tuesday, polished the front step, cleaned the grates, darned and mended in front of the television at night, and who even kept up with her paintwork, routinely wiping off fingerprints and dusting skirting boards. Unfortunately I inherited her work ethic. As a younger woman I also struggled with the wringer washing machines, ironed everything I wore, polished my shoes, and in my first Swinging London flat, carried coal and cleaned a fire grate every day.

I also worked and somewhere in the late 60s decided, along with Erica Jong, that 'because my mother's minutes were sucked into the roar of the vacuum cleaner' I would be content to 'live in a dusty house'. I gave up housework. 'Clean house, boring woman' I said until I bought my own home and overnight reverted to being houseproud.

So while I wouldn't encourage anyone to spend 12 quid on this book, if you see it second hand, don't hesitate. This is the life women lived until comparatively recently. This is the life we sacrificed careers, talents, and political equality for. Worse, this is the life that swallowed my own mother alive.… (mais)