From CNN Money authored by Julia Carpenter:

“In today’s world, a work wife is usually thought of as an office buddy. She celebrates your successes and downplays your failures. You cry on her shoulder in the break room.

But “work wife” wasn’t always about friendship.

The term appears in popular use as far back as 1929, when Faith Baldwin’s book “The Office Wife” novelized a traditional concept: that men need wives for work and wives for home.

The Peggy Olsons and Joan Holloways of the “Mad Men” world weren’t supposed to be friends, they were supposed to serve as spousal stand-ins for the Don Drapers and Roger Sterlings.

That didn’t mean they were men’s partners, or even their equals. Instead, they were helpmates, there to solve dry-cleaning crises, schedule meetings or answer calls from the at-home wives.

That slowly started to change as more women entered the workforce in the late 20th century, and female alliances became a necessity for women to survive sexist workplaces or move up the corporate ladder.”

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