I do not see a reason to double take due to that. Asking your spouse for help seems pretty normal, and 99.9% of aircraft mechanics that travel abroad on a moment’s notice for emergency repairs being men, 90% of which are married to women, also seems normal. Even in 2023.
Your spouse is incapable of going home and packing a suitcase to assist you simply because they also work? If you can't help out your spouse when needed, then you're not much of a spouse - regardless of your gender, income, roles, etc...
Yes, people can't just leave work to rescue an incompetent spouse at a moments notice because they didn't prepare appropriately for their 24*7 on-call job.
My wife and I both lived this for a while, and we both made some pretty crazy sacrifices and trips to keep each other moving. We were equals and highly committed.
Not everyone, but some can. Presumably there were other ways for non-married colleagues to figure out that situation. The author was talking about his and [some of] his colleagues’ experiences, not arguing for a position in the battle of the sexes.
The text is specifically referring to 'wife' - the underlying assumption (or fact) that the team all have wives. Not a single husband[1].
It's not about 'helping out your spouse', the 60s comment was in reference to stereotypically gendered language. It was not, and has never been, about 'helping your spouse'.
How do you know they weren’t all men? If that was in fact the case, would you still say the author ought to use ungendered language? Remember this is a personal experience, not a political piece.
I know it's a personal piece. I'd prefer if the author used ungendered language, but my amount of upset about that not happening is close to zero. I'm not the language police.
I do, however, very much object to folks moving goal posts on a discussion. OP commented on 60s language because it was gendered. Apply whatever value judgment you want to that statement, agree, disagree, whatever you need to do - but it was never a discussion about "helping a spouse is bad".
That was the point. Let's stop debating things that have never been said, we have Twitter for that.
The only time you'd need someone to bring you a packed suitcase is when you can't go home to get it, don't have time to buy replacements, and will be sleeping on-site. They're asking a spouse to pack things up after normal business hours, because they can't do it themselves.
It does seem unlikely that the airplane maintenance would be within reasonable driving distance of the house, the story would have been clearer and more impactful if they'd said "Fedex a suitcase overnight".
Understandable. It's a bit hyper vigilant but the sentiment is likewise understandable (even going by your estimations there could be exceptions to the norm).
