0.01% Glam SAHMs get Wife Bonus

[GMTplus7]

The wives of masters of the universe:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/poor-little-rich-women.html?_r=2&referrer=

mostly 30-somethings with advanced degrees from prestigious universities and business schools. They were married to rich, powerful men, many of whom ran hedge or private equity funds; they often had three or four children under the age of 10; they lived west of Lexington Avenue, north of 63rd Street and south of 94th Street; and they did not work outside the home.

Instead they toiled in what the sociologist Sharon Hays calls “intensive mothering,” exhaustively enriching their children’s lives by virtually every measure, then advocating for them anxiously and sometimes ruthlessly in the linked high-stakes games of social jockeying and school admissions.
…
…wife bonuses.
…
A wife bonus, I was told, might be hammered out in a pre-nup or post-nup, and distributed on the basis of not only how well her husband’s fund had done but her own performance — how well she managed the home budget, whether the kids got into a “good” school — the same way their husbands were rewarded at investment banks.

Wife Bonuses: whaddya think?

[zoosermom]

I’m surprised she didn’t take the whole thing. In my field, bonuses are a competitive sport at the higher levels, so I’m familiar with this. It’s often the case that the husband hands over the entire bonus. If not, why shouldn’t the wife get a cut?

[JustOneDad]

Hmmm…“Glam SAHM”. I’m going to use that term as much as possible this year in an effort to popularize it. Problem is, I don’t know that many.

[GMTplus7]

My kids report about these moms after they visit their Upper East Side friends’ homes (all the furniture in the house is white, of course). The morning starts with a visit by the nutritionist, followed by yoga.

[BunsenBurner]

So this is what parallel Universe looks like!

[VeryHappy]

Kinda creepy. OTOH, if it works for them – well, good for them. Kinda nice to know upfront on what measures one’s performance will be judged. I’ve had many jobs where that wasn’t the case. I just never thought of being a wife and mother as a job that has performance standards.

[sax]

hahahahah…now that will set up an awesome mother child dynamic.

“Hey mom, let me take the Beemer out tonight or I swear I will bomb my SAT’s”

“Hey mom, unless I see a deposit of $10,000 bucks in my bank account today I’m going to enroll at SUNY Plattsburg.”

Yeah, that whole bonus thing for mom will work just wonderfully.

hahahahaha…who comes up with this stuff?

[ItsJustSchool]

In the “Wife and Mother” job description, will quantifiable incentive bonuses bleed over to the “wife” side, as well? Maybe a “Yelp”-like system of rating meals? Hmm…

[VeryHappy]

I wouldn’t be surprised if some pre-nups have included detailed quantitative requirements for sex and/or certain sex acts.

[BunsenBurner]

VH, you are not too far off:

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/the-most-bizarre-prenuptial-clauses

Take a look.

[BunsenBurner]

People can contract for anything they want; enforceability of bizarre and illegal provisions is another deal!

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/01/should-your-prenup-include-sex.html

[movemetoo]

I am a SAHM, and I bristle every time I am called a “housewife”.
There is NOTHING that would induce me to sign a contract like that, as if I was an employee to my husband. Not if he made a zillion dollars.

[dadx]

Rich, powerful men may speak the language of partnership in the absence of true economic parity in a marriage, and act like true partners, and many do. But under this arrangement women are still dependent on their men — a husband may simply ignore his commitment to an abstract idea at any time. He may give you a bonus, or not. Access to your husband’s money might feel good. But it can’t buy you the power you get by being the one who earns, hunts or gathers it.

The wives of the masters of the universe, I learned, are a lot like mistresses — dependent and comparatively disempowered. Just sensing the disequilibrium, the abyss that separates her version of power from her man’s, might keep a thinking woman up at night.

Its just a rant against women who were fortunate enough to marry husbands who earn extremely large incomes. I’ve read it twice and can’t figure out what it is that she wants these women to do. The implication is that they should go out and work and hire someone else to take care of their kids. To each his own.

[GMTplus7]

I am a SAHM, and I bristle every time I am called a “housewife”.

Is the job title dependent upon having live-at-home children?

[movemetoo]

Nah, I can stay at home and still be a mom, right? But I’m NOT married to my house. Thankfully.

[GMTplus7]

Wondering if any bottom 99.99 percenters have a spouse bonus scheme for loading the dishwasher.

[Lergnom]

I think she either made the wife bonus thing up or picked a single example she heard of - meaning it may be a repeated story passed on as more than real. Others who write about the same group and who live in the area, including Lisa Birnbach (The Preppy Handbook, etc.) say they’ve never heard of it.

[emilybee]

Pfft. I get all my H’s money and I didn’t even have to sign a contract.

[atomom]

I suppose I might do a better job of keeping his sock and underwear drawers stocked up if I got a bonus for that. (Or if I lost my bonus for neglecting that task.)

[AttorneyMother]

I know an older woman (early 60s) who has half an armful of diamond bracelets that are stunning. She can tell me when she received each one and she calls them her “service stripes.” It’s not a new concept.