GEN 325

1. UNPAID DOMESTIC WORK

2. REVIEW OF
DOMESTIC WORK
Recalling the first chapter: before industrialization, it was relatively easy for
women to find employment—albeit low skilled and lo paid work
As the industrial revolution took off, men became threatened by women
working (and there were other reasons). Society began to enforce the idea of
paid work as the men’s domain. Women were to stay home and raise children
This idea was adopted more in middle class households and above
Unpaid domestic work was not counted in the census (paid domestic work was
though). The effect of this was to undervalue such work

3. THE HOUSEWIFE
We use the gender-neutral term ‘unpaid domestic work’ but we used to call
this worker a housewife due to both the exclusion of men from housework
and the exclusion of women from outside work
This was more an aspiration for the working class and poorer people
Only about 33 percent of women were in the workforce at any level. The
exception to this was around the two World Wars.
However, the trend has been towards equality in the workplace—especially
since 2000.
The term ‘housewife’ was not used until the 1850s. It was not studied until
the 1970s when Oakley and Lopata studied housework

4. LOPATA (1972)
AND OAKLEY’S
(1974) FINDINGS
This type of work is low
status because it is not
paid. However, it is also
not recruited for. A
women enters it when
she gets married
Taking work outside
does not diminish this
primary responsibility
(although other
household members
may lighten the load)
As expected, women
disliked the term
housewife (or cabbage
in the UK)
There is the idea that it
is boring work

5. DOMESTIC WORK
AND ALIENATION
Their work is both meaningful and unmeaningful. They find work pertaining to parenting
to be meaningful. However, the other work is repetitive and monotonous.
Women are generally able to exercise power over which tasks they do and when to
perform them. They were relatively autonomous
Children at home undermine this autonomy as do husband’s work schedules
Recall Blauner’s components of alienation: powerlessness, meaninglessness, social
isolation and self-estrangement

6. DOMESTIC WORK
AND ALIENATION
(CONTINUED)
As far as social isolation, child rearing was found to cause extensive social
isolation—especially the younger the child
Loneliness is an occupational hazard. Mothers are often cut off from family
and community life. This problem is mitigated when there are other similar
families nearby or when the child enters school
Regarding self-estrangement, the mother does not have the opportunity to
display all her characteristics that makes her unique
On the other hand, being a mother matures a person and it is also part of
her identity
In general, housework is alienating but raising a child is less so, and often
rewarding

7. HISTORICAL
TREND OF
DOMESTIC WORK
During the first half of the 20th century, women
were responsible for household work.
Vanek, and others, studied this through the decades
The number of hours spent per week, averaging
somewhere around 54, had been relatively
unchanged up through the 1960s
However, at this same time we have the invention of
many labor-saving devices like washing machines and
clothes dryers.
So why did the amount of household work remain
unchanged despite labor-saving devices?

8. HOW DID LABOR-SAVING DEVICES
EFFECT HOUSEWORK?
They add to the quality and quantity of
domestic work. For example, a washing
machine allows a family to do a smaller
amount of laundry every day. It also changes
the behavior of people as far as how willing
they are to call something ‘dirty’
However, some argue that Vanek’s study
relied too much on the middle class. In the UK,
many middle class had domestic help.
However, this trend declined in the 20th
century. This needs to be considered.

9. PROBLEMS
WITH
MEASURING
HOUSEWORK
(DOMESTIC
WORK)
• It is hard to measure secondary or concurrent
activities. For example, having something in the
oven and ironing at the same time. How do you
measure that in time?
• Domestic work can be done with autonomy.
Many small breaks can be taken, or work can be
done in spurts. How can one measure this?
• It is difficult to isolate the effect of a technology.
One could spend more time washing clothes in
the machine, but maybe cheaper clothes
allowed people to buy more clothes.
• A dishwasher didn’t necessarily help women. The
husband would help wash up after dinner. The
dishwasher saved him from the work

10. TREND
TOWARDS
MORE
EQUALITY
• Cowan, in looking at the dishwasher example on the
previous slide, also wrote that labor-saving devices,
like the microwave, etc allowed women to begin
entering the workforce
• Whether this is true or not, there has been a trend
from the 1970s for women to spend fewer hours on
housework and men spend more hours. We are not
equal. This is just a trend. Why though?
• Women are in the workforce more and men the
workweek has decreased slightly allowing men more
time
• A higher number of women are becoming educated
• Growth of egalitarian values

11. STALLED GENDER REVOLUTION THESIS
• Some researchers, like Hochschild, saw this trend as having stalled out. Women were working more,
but the trend of men helping in the house more was not increasing proportionately. In her study:
• Where men earned more than their wife: 21% helped with household work
• Where men earned as much as their wife: 30% helped with household work
• Where men earned less than their wife: none helped with household work
• Research by Gruner show that as couples stay married longer, they revert to more traditional
gendered idea of household work
• The trend is slower for men doing housework than women working outside the home (lagged
adaptation)

12. THE
SYMMETRICAL
FAMILY THESIS
Young and Willmott proposed a four-
stage historical development of the
division of work:
The 18th century pre-industrial family
where men and women worked together
The 19th century early industrial family
where there was physical and social
segregation and inequality among men
and women
The late 20th century period of more
equality that is home-centered and less
segregated
The 21st century multiple family types
ranging from symmetrical to
asymmetrical with two demanding jobs
for the wife and two for the husband
They maintain that these changes are
first seen in upper classes and filter
down through middle and to the
working class over time

13. THE
SYMMETRICAL
FAMILY THESIS
(CONTINUED)
• To focus on the second and third stage,
what were the factors leading to this
change:
• Affluence
• Establishment of a welfare state
• Reduced working hours for men
• Increases in paid employment for wives
• The role of technology (labor-saving
devices)
• Feminism
• Smaller families

14. THE FOURTH
STAGE (21ST
CENTURY)
This was speculation on
their part. The symmetrical
family thesis is from 1973
As we become
deindustrialized, work will
become less monotonous
and rewarding. It will involve
less physical and more
intellectual labor
At the same time we have
the rise of feminism. These
reinforce each other. This
will allow women to increase
their participation on an
equal basis
They say that men and
women will both have two
difficult jobs
•They speculate that this could
negative effect marriages and
marriage rates

15. OTHER
POSSIBILITIES
There will be a 24-hour work cycle with 24-
hour consumption opportunities. This
demand for workers at different times will
split the family time up. With couples
working different shifts, marriage will be
harderAnother alternative is
provided by Finch who says
wives will experience a
‘triple burden’. They will
have to work, still do the
housework, and help the
husband in his work
For example,
is he has a
business, she
will be free
family labor
She will help
him entertain
his business
guests
In this case we still have the primacy of the
man’s job over the wife

16. CRITIQUE OF THE
SYMMETRICAL
FAMILY THESIS
The study lacked empirical evidence- meaning some of they didn’t prove
their research with enough evidence. For example, out of 100 questions,
only one on the domestic division of labor
The put too much weight on the rise of women working outside and men
mitigating that workload through increased housework. Yet data shows
women who work outside the home, work longer total hours than men.
This means they are still doing more housework
Subsequent research has not back up their findings. Research also shows
that power (like making decisions on where to live, etc) remain a
husband’s domain as do financial decisions

17. OUTSOURCING
OF DOMESTIC
WORK
This is seen as one way to mitigate a
heavier workload by women
There are many types, but the principle
forms are cleaning and childcare.
The rise in domestic help has been
attributed to an increase in middle class
women’s incomes
While cleaning involved no further work
on the part of the hiring person,
childcare still needs some degree of
involvement—usually from the woman
In both cases, the domestic help ends
up interacting with the woman so
although the situation benefits both
partners, men are benefitted more
It is also a way to not have to address
men’s inclination to not take up extra
household work

18. SUMMARY
The term domestic servant is gender neutral, but it is
understood to mean ‘housewife’
The idea of a male breadwinner is relatively recent with
the industrial revolution. It has declined since the 1970s
with dual-earner households in the majority
•This doesn’t mean that men do half the housework
Work involving raising a child is rewarding. Other
housework is alienating
Up until the 1970, the amount of hours women spent on
housework remained unchanged—despite technology

19. SUMMARY (CONTINUED)
Since the 70s, the total hours
spent on housework be
women has gone down and
for men it has gone up
•They aren’t heading towards the
middle at the same speeds. Men are
slower
The symmetrical family thesis
looks at technological and
social changes explain four
periods of family work
development.
•The theory moves towards
symmetrical work by men and women
•It starts with middle classes and
moves towards working classes
Some research shows that
gender workload has
plateaued or even reverted to
traditional gender roles the
longer couples are married
•However, don’t forget that marriage
rates are plummeting. We should
consider this. This presentation only
works with traditional families