angel in the house
A housewife who is pure, subservient, and devoted to her husband and family. A reference to a narrative poem called The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore. The phrase is now typically used to question or decry this concept as a model of femininity. Though we've made great strides in the past half-decade toward full equality for women, there is still this lingering notion that a married woman, especially a mother, should be the angel in the house. I'd like to be married and have a family of my own, sure, but I have no desire to then be an angel in the house—I enjoy my career as a lawyer. Do you think every woman back in the 1800s wanted to be an angel in the house? There were just fewer options available to them.
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