The Home Stretch Why the Gender Revolution Stalled at the Kitchen Sink

Forty years of feminism and still women do the majority of the housework. Why? In fact, while women are making slow but steady gains on gender disparities in the workplace, at home the gap is widening -  young American men are now twice as likely as their fathers to think a woman's place is in the home, while in the UK, the average heterosexual British woman puts in 12 more days of household labor per year than her male companion. And when 'having it all' so often means hiring a nanny or cleaner, is it something to aspire to? Sally Howard joins up with a cohort of feminist separatists, undertakes a day's shift with her Lithuanian cleaner, lives in a futuristic model home designed to anticipate our needs and meets latte papas and one-percent parents in this lively examination which combines history and fieldwork with her personal story. The Home Stretch is a fascinating investigation into how we got here and what the future could look like for feminism's final frontier: the domestic labor gap.

Sally Howard is a journalist specializing in gender, human rights and social trends. She is a regular contributor to Ms. Magazine, Marie Claire (UK and US), the Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine, the British Medical Journal, and BBC Radio Four's From Our Own Correspondent. Her first book, The Kama Sutra Diaries, was one of the Scotsman's Travel Books of the Year for 2014. She is a co-author of the Sunday Times Travel magazine's coffee table book 20 Amazing Places. She lives in London.

Introduction Coming Clean Battles on the Home Front, a Recent History Paint it Pink and Blue: Naturalizing Gendered Chores The Mother of All Reality Checks (aka the Parent Labour Trap) The Domestic Backlash Power, Money, Willingness to Mop The Outsourced Wife Mrs Robot Marketing Yummy Mummy (or The New Sexed Sell) A Case for the Commons (and Why Separatists Still Struggle with Who Scrubs the Loo) Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot! Conclusion: Home Truths Postscript Acknowledgements Picture Credits Endnotes