1900 House

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>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

I doubt, though, that American women in the 80s on average spent more 
time baking bread and cakes than before, Martha Stewart 
notwithstanding.  So the different standards that account for more 
time for housework in the mid-80s than ever before, which Cowan, 
Schor, etc. write about,  must mainly concern standards of 
cleanliness and care-giving.

Yoshie