In fairness the author is making a comparison of the level of labour between the character Sue and non-specific "women" of the pre-apocalypse. The absence of labour he ascribes to these "women" thereby magnifies the value of Sue's contribution.
By "women" the author - or the narrator - presumably means "women in my experience", which - if he was a middle-class suburbanite - was likely middle-class suburbanite women. The subject of the satire, as you say. Rather than the women in employment, the carers, and those for whom managing a household was not a hobby.
The attitude of middle-class surbanite men is, I think, in large part due to (1) a lack of real communication between men and women and a lack of interest in same and (2) envy for what is perceived as a better deal. Probably on both sides - women envying men the respect and choice they attain by working, and men envying women their role as homemaker - or, as some evidently saw it and some perhaps still do - home-occupier, slothing about until hubby gets home. There were no doubt some women who actually fit that caricature, as there are no doubt some men today who still believe the caricature to be reality.
no subject
By "women" the author - or the narrator - presumably means "women in my experience", which - if he was a middle-class suburbanite - was likely middle-class suburbanite women. The subject of the satire, as you say. Rather than the women in employment, the carers, and those for whom managing a household was not a hobby.
The attitude of middle-class surbanite men is, I think, in large part due to (1) a lack of real communication between men and women and a lack of interest in same and (2) envy for what is perceived as a better deal. Probably on both sides - women envying men the respect and choice they attain by working, and men envying women their role as homemaker - or, as some evidently saw it and some perhaps still do - home-occupier, slothing about until hubby gets home. There were no doubt some women who actually fit that caricature, as there are no doubt some men today who still believe the caricature to be reality.