A working-class wife thinks that her husband ______.

The point of departure for an understanding of the position of the working-class father in his home is that he is "the master in his own house". This he is by long-recognized custom, and neither he nor his wife would want the custom changed. She will often refer to him before others as "Mr. W" or "the master". This does not mean that he is an absolute ruler or that he gets or expects his own way in everything. Being the master often goes with a carefulness, a willingness to help and be considerate, to be "a good husband". In the lazy or insensitive, it may go with a marked selfishness or near-cruelty. In either case, there is likely to be an obedience to him as the main breadwinner and heavy worker, as, even today, he remains the chief connection with the outer world which brings the money into the house. There is often a kind of roughness in his manner which a middle-class wife would find unbearable. A wife will say how worried she is because something is wrong, and because "the master will be mad" when he gets home; she knows he may shout at her harshly or in a few cases may even beat her, especially if he has had a couple of drinks on the way from work. If middle-aged wives say to a younger one, "He’s good to you, isn’t he?" they mean that he is not likely to become violent in word or act, or that he does not leave her alone almost every night, or that he will help her out if she gets into difficulties with the house-keeping allowance. The roughness he shows is in part a heavy laboring-man’s usual manner in personal relations and expression, and clearly does not necessarily mean a lack of fondness on his part, or a helplessness on the wife’s part.
    A husband is consequently not really expected to help about the house. If he does, his wife is pleased; but she is unlikely to hold it against him if he does not. A woman would not want him to do too much of that kind of thing for fear he is thought womanish. If he should help in the house, the highest praise he can earn is: "He’s good about the house, just like a woman". In helping, he is doing work in place of the woman whose job it should be; the household jobs are not joint responsibilities.