The effect on a woman's life of being married to a man of high status

Abstract

There may be more than one reason for writing a thesis when one has reached retirement age. I considered the list of activities and enterprises which had occupied my husband over the years and realised that they could produce a biography of the usual male genre as described by Stanley. The subjects in these biographies are usually white, male, and middle class and have achieved success in the eyes of the world according to conventional standards (Stanley, 1992:4). Stanley continues that modern biographers, in the male genre, claim the notion of importance or greatness for their subjects and that these two words describe a political product (p.8). Perhaps she is wondering who decides who should be important. Stanley maintains that in feminist terms the 'obscure' life can be as significant historically as a famous one and that ideas are produced within social networks which need to be examined along with the subject of the auto/biography (p.8). Heilbrun suggests that women are beyond youth when they want to create another story (Heibrun, 1989:109) and besides I thought that I might have something of interest and value to add to the history of the Vice Regal Office in New Zealand. Little was known of the Vice Regal spouses as I found out to my cost when I needed some direction on how I should deport myself in my new role. There was nothing heroic or dramatic about that portion of my life but it was lived amongst a moving kaleidoscope of networks of people. I was in a position to observe for often I was on the edge of the action and able to watch people's behaviours.