The Return of the Housewife: Why Women Are Still Cleaning Up - Hardcover

by Emma Casey (Author)

Investigating the rise of the social media 'cleanfluencer', this book asks why women are still the ones tidying up in the twenty-first century.

Back Jacket

'Drawing on decades of sociological and feminist thinking, Emma Casey offers us an entertaining and coruscating analysis of the re-glamourisation of housework in the digital age. This highly readable book will be of interest to anyone who has ever cleaned - or avoided cleaning - a kitchen sink.'
Jo Littler, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London

'Contributing equally to feminist sociology and feminist media studies, this is a compelling and timely account.'
Diane Negra, Professor, University College Dublin

Housework is good for you. Housework sparks joy. Housework is beautiful. Housework is glamorous. Housework is key to a happy family. Housework shows that you care. Housework is women's work.

Social media is flooded with images of the perfect housewife. TikTok and Instagram 'cleanfluencers' produce endless photos and videos of women cleaning, tidying and putting things right. Figures such as Marie Kondo and Mrs Hinch have placed housework, with its promise of a life of love and contentment, at the centre of self-care and positive thinking.

And yet housework remains one of the world's most unequal institutions. Women, especially poorer women and women of colour, do most low-paid and unpaid domestic labour. In The return of the housewife, Emma Casey asks why these inequalities matter and why they persist after a century of dramatic advances in women's rights. She offers a powerful call to challenge the prevailing myths around housework and the 'naturally competent' woman homemaker.

Author Biography

Emma Casey is a Reader in Sociology at the University of York and author of the book Women, Pleasure and the Gambling Experience.