Fair Play

“Para tener una familia linda tienes que trabajar juntos.”

“To have a beautiful family you have to work together.“

As the saying goes, “happy wife, happy life.” However, this is not the reality for many married couples. While the husband might be living his happy life his wife is overwhelmed by inequity of domestic labor. Wives are burdened with the majority of household work while also caring for their children and working a full-time job. And husbands have been conditioned to expect that work to be done by women and either contribute little to domestic labor or when they’re asked to do more they weaponize their incompetence to make sure they’re never asked again.

This is a sad state of affairs but the tides are turning. There is a growing awareness of domestic inequality and women are speaking up about it. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and based on the book by Eve Rodsky, Fair Play is a documentary that examines the family dynamic when it comes to domestic labor and how couples can work towards a more equitable situation. While the focus is on straight couples there is also a spotlight on queer couples and how they manage this dynamic within their own relationships.

Women will feel both validated and infuriated watching this documentary. With that said, Fair Play offers viewers hope that things can change. I appreciated Eve Rodsky’s discussion on the nuances of mental labor because it’s unseen work that really isn’t appreciated. Ultimately, the film offers a balanced perspective with the goal that men can ultimately change and that divorce doesn’t have to be the resolution.

I believe that the ongoing discourse, anthems like “You Make Me Do Too Much Labour” and films like Fair Play will help shift the dynamic. We need to keep talking about this so eventually we do reach that ideal of “happy wife, happy life”.

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