Everything In Conversation: The Women Quietly Quitting Their Husbands

Hello EICherries. We imagine you're all quietly quitting your work obligations right now, as we slither towards the end of 2025... but today we're going to be talking about the women who are quietly quitting their husbands.

What is quiet quitting a marriage? It’s the slow, silent retreat that often happens behind closed doors when one partner, often a woman in midlife, simply checks out.

Despite the fact that divorce rates among older adults have climbed over the past few decades, countless couples are staying together, because separation feels too exhausting, too financially risky, or too disruptive to the lives they’ve built. And in many cases, their husbands don’t even realise how far things have drifted until it’s too late.

Monica Corcoran Harel writes ‘Passivity came up again and again in my reporting: Husbands tune out their disenchanted wives like Charlie Brown deflects the monotonous drone of his schoolteacher. They make flimsy promises to engage more on an emotional level or to help out around the house. Maybe they vacuum for a month or two. Or act all intrigued when a partner vents about an incapable colleague. But eventually, the extra-credit effort falls by the wayside or just doesn’t feel like enough. In some cases, the man’s need to be lauded for taking on a fraction of the physical load only punctuates how much a woman has to accomplish every single day.’

We get into it!

Thank you so much for your takes on this topic, we love being in conversation with you all and hope you enjoy the episode, O,R,B xx

The Women Quietly Quitting Their Husbands

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