Mother Hubbard

Mother Hubbard gets no strokes, but she gives out hundreds each day. She lives for her family; she is a wife and mother. She assumes that her husband's life is more important than her own, and she lives for her children. Her family's needs and whims come before her own. The husband and kids don't stroke her; they come to expect what she gives and only notice when her services are absent. This inequality is constantly reinforced by the media's promotion of the role of mother and housewife. Children grow up and no longer need much care. When this happens, the mother's life as she knows it is through. She can't understand why her life is so empty. If she is lucky, her children will call her to baby-sit for them, but more often she may have to meddle in their lives to find a reason to live.

Injunctions and Attributes: Don't Feel Important Don't Leave Your Family Sacrifice for Others Be Nice

Be a Good Housewife, Cook, Mother Don't Feel Your Feelings

Antithesis: This script is extremely difficult to overcome because of the bleakness of the alternatives available to an overweight mother of four if she is socially isolated and has developed few skills other than those that make her useful to her husband or children.

Another life script is Woman Behind the Man: Such women, who are actually stronger, more aggressive, and smarter than their husbands, use all their energy in helping their men "make it" and in hiding the fact that they are making it for them. Of course, the man realizes this, is resentful or ashamed, and discounts her help as unimportant. The classic example is a woman who works to support her husband and pay his tuition in medical school. He then divorces her for someone more fun-loving, playful, and pretty. These women-behind-the men live much of their lives with the idea that they are no good, and so they have to try harder than other people and give more to make it worthwhile for others to love them.