FIRST we had ‘Tiger Mums’ - mothers who channel all their energies into raising a superchild.

Now we have ‘Tiger Wives’, who focus all their drive upon their husbands, to ‘maximise their potential’.

These women push their men by micro-managing their every move, from setting their alarm clocks to choosing their clothes, managing their diet and applying for jobs on their behalf.

Some send them messages throughout the day to motivate them, some even monitor how much TV their husbands watch.

“I do allow my husband some chill out time watching Game of Thrones,” says one…for a limited amount of time - obviously.”

This sort of behaviour is being billed as a new, 21st century phenomena, when it’s anything but. In JB Priestley’s wonderful play ‘When we are married’, first performed in 1938, we meet Clare Soppitt, who controls every aspect of her husband Herbert’s life.

One of three Yorkshire couples who discover, as they are about to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, that they were never legally married, the Soppitts’ roles are quickly reversed as henpecked Herbert finds his backbone and starts to rebel.

It is not in any way unusual for women to control their male partners. I work in a farm shop once a week and regularly hear the words: ‘I’d better ask the wife”, uttered when a man is wanting to buy something but needs to first check with his Mrs.

I know of many women who manage their partners finances, negotiating their car insurance, booking dental appointments and sorting out other essential services.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m something of a Tiger Wife myself.

I have looked for jobs for my husband, filled in application forms - basically done everything except turn up for the interview. And had I been allowed to that, I would have done.

I wouldn’t say I did any of it to maximise his potential - it would take far more than me to do that - but because, quite simply, he wouldn’t do it himself, or if he did, he would do it at a snail’s pace.

There are several notable examples of 21st-century women who it is said were the driving force behind their husband’s success. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has always credited his wife, Michelle, for his rise to power.

Robin Li, the CEO of Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, only decided to become an internet entrepreneur because his wife, Melissa, urged him to do so, having watched a documentary about the founder of Yahoo. He is now worth around £9 billion.

My text messages are hardly going to send my husband’s career and earnings into the stratosphere, with: “Remember to tuck your shirt in” a more likely brief than “Don’t forget to check the Tokyo share price when you convert those stocks.”

It’s more a case of reminding him to “Take your pack up” than “Make reservations at The Ivy.”

My mirco-managing is more domestic cat than tiger, but it’s there all the same.

Like many, many women, I choose and buy my husband’s clothing and manage his finances - more because he is totally disinterested than because I want control.

If I am honest I wish he would do more for himself. Maybe if, like Herbert Soppitt, he suddenly discovered that we weren’t married, he would assert himself, snatch back the purse strings and take pleasure in letting his shirt hang out.

Maybe our roles would be reversed. I’d quite like a Tiger Husband pushing me on to great things and a whopping great salary. But would I want to relinquish overall control? Most certainly not.