toota - well quite. but having children does take two parents (whether they are both around post-birth or not) and it is interesting that such helpful books are entirely aimed at organising women to get it all done in a much more sensible and organised fashion...
i would like to to know what it is about the contents of the book that means they are directed at women specifically, not the entire family, as suggested above? i'm sure the suggestions within are fairly good, so why restrict their impact to women? publishing yet another book on how women should do everything better (easier! faster!) reminds me of the 1950s where women were supposed to be all grateful for those new-fangled appliances (as some sort of sop for losing their jobs to the real men home from the war) be grateful, ladies! your new ez-brite mop means No More Scrubbing! be free!
i mean, i suppose at least this variety of gendered targeting assumes you have a job. it just doesn't do a lot to actually help share the burden of childcare and housework. it's still women's work.
joanna, here's a tip for you - read some susan maushart. and if you have, how do you square it with your commercial interests?
quite right though toota, i haven't read it. she might well engage with the partner issue within the text. i can't see any mention of anything other than the woman in the (badly copied) pages available on amazon, though.sincere apologies if the content is rammed with equality of responsibility. but bad choice of title if so. and way to promote outdated stereotypes.
but i'll take my bad temper and dreams of equality elsewhere. and continue searching for a 'self-help' book that doesn't assume the woman is entirely responsible for everything from the cover forward. it's 2011 ffs.
joanna, thank you for visiting mn. many apologies for my lack of manners. but why target women specifically? (i mean, i know it's dead obvious. to play on their insecurities about not being good enough and make some money, camouflaged neatly under a 'helping them make their lives easier' banner) i'm sure you're robust enough to defend your choices in a pithy one liner.
do you believe that such books directed at women are helping to effect cultural change, or do they continue to enable outdated media perceptions of gender roles?