ABSTRACT
Previous studies on the effects of the comings and goings of absentee husbands have been on specific groups of people and for a specific purpose. For example Chandler’s (1991) study and that of Totterman (1989) were on the wives of Royal Naval personnel while those of the Aberdeen group were on the wives of oil-rig workers; but while the Aberdeen group and Totterman were inter ested primarily in the clinical effects of the separation, Chandler was writing from a feminist point of view. This study has two fundamental differences from those. Firstly, in this study the range of occupations of the absentee partner are very varied and are not restricted to one particular set of occupa tions; and secondly, while I endorse much of the feminist critique, my own studies look at non-discordant marital separations from an entirely different perspective. I am looking at the situation from the perspective of the actors responding to their environment, that is their responses to the ambient society, and the family is their most immediate and closest aspect of that ambience. I am looking at the situation, or trying to do so, through the eyes of the indi vidual actors. Not all women are feminists so not all women will see things from that perspective; in fact as we have seen the women regard their husbands as their friends and companions and not as their exploiters or masters. They do not see themselves as exploited or involved in power struggles. One woman whose case history has been recorded did have the misfortune to marry a bullying husband; but she was the only one in my study. One woman was a Naval wife and her reactions agree with the findings of Chandler and Totterman, but I draw different conclusions,
Q Do you do anything special and how do you feel when he comes home and just before he goes away? A If he has been away for a long time say six months then we do get special clothes ready and the children make banners and balloons ready to welcome him home. The day he actually comes home is my day. Nobody else comes.
