> Just watching her and her daughters doing
> >the wash (12 hours to do a single load!), I wondered
> >how women ever had time to agitate for suffrage and
> >the like. Check it out if you get the chance...
> >
> >Jim Baird
yer avg family had some form of servants, for one. the suffragettes were from well to do families for another. and men did significantly more -- e.g., men shared in some of the tasks, like bringing in the water. AND, people didn't wear clothes like we wear today which require frequent washing. see Ruth Schwartz Cowan, _More Work for Mother_ in it, Cowan explains why survey data reveal that women are spending more time doing housework than ever before (that was as of the mid 80s). part of it is because modern household appliance actually make more work because along with technological developments come different standards. e.g., in the olden daze, bread was of the quick bread kind or sour dought starter bread. (corn bread, batter breads which don't require kneading and elaborate steps). when the steam mill emerged, we had finely milled white flour and the women's magazines (in order to promote purchase) spent considerable effort advertising the flour via recipes for yeast breads, as well as cakes that required considerably more effort to make.
kelley