Jun Sasaki
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198292746
- eISBN:
- 9780191603891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292740.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter looks into the working conditions in a rural weaving factory during the early 20th century. Based on the attendance books of workers, it is shown that the days and hours actually worked ...
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This chapter looks into the working conditions in a rural weaving factory during the early 20th century. Based on the attendance books of workers, it is shown that the days and hours actually worked by female workers in the factory were strongly influenced by the labour demand from agriculture, as well as the housework demands of their household. The introduction of machines into rural factories did not mark the major divide that is commonly assumed by economic historians.Less
This chapter looks into the working conditions in a rural weaving factory during the early 20th century. Based on the attendance books of workers, it is shown that the days and hours actually worked by female workers in the factory were strongly influenced by the labour demand from agriculture, as well as the housework demands of their household. The introduction of machines into rural factories did not mark the major divide that is commonly assumed by economic historians.
Sara Horrell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199212668
- eISBN:
- 9780191712807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212668.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household ...
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Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household structure and the role of children at the start and end of the 20th century. The next section considers the impact of domestic technology on women's availability for work. The final section considers the interrelationship between work, fertility decisions, and divorce.Less
Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household structure and the role of children at the start and end of the 20th century. The next section considers the impact of domestic technology on women's availability for work. The final section considers the interrelationship between work, fertility decisions, and divorce.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their ...
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In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their perceptions of housework, their feelings of monotony and fragmentation, the length of their working week, the importance of standards and routines, and their attitudes to different household tasks. Most women, irrespective of social class, were dissatisfied with housework — an important finding which contrasted with prevailing views. Importantly, too, the author showed how the neglect of research on domestic work was linked to the inbuilt sexism of sociology. This classic book challenged the hitherto neglect of housework as a topic worthy of study and paved the way for the sociological study of many more aspects of women's lives.Less
In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their perceptions of housework, their feelings of monotony and fragmentation, the length of their working week, the importance of standards and routines, and their attitudes to different household tasks. Most women, irrespective of social class, were dissatisfied with housework — an important finding which contrasted with prevailing views. Importantly, too, the author showed how the neglect of research on domestic work was linked to the inbuilt sexism of sociology. This classic book challenged the hitherto neglect of housework as a topic worthy of study and paved the way for the sociological study of many more aspects of women's lives.
Susan Thistle
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520245907
- eISBN:
- 9780520939196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520245907.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
A social transformation of profound proportions has been unfolding over the second half of the twentieth century as women have turned from household work to wages as the key source of their ...
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A social transformation of profound proportions has been unfolding over the second half of the twentieth century as women have turned from household work to wages as the key source of their livelihood. This study, a broad comparative analysis of African American women's and white women's changing relationships to home and work over the past forty years, provides an overview of how this shift is influencing the shape of families and the American economy. The book brings together diverse issues and statistics—the plight of single mothers; the time crunch faced by many parents; the problem of housework; patterns of work, employment and marriage; and much more—in an analysis that draws from history, economics, political science, sociology, government documents, and census data to put gender at the center of the social and economic changes of the past decades.Less
A social transformation of profound proportions has been unfolding over the second half of the twentieth century as women have turned from household work to wages as the key source of their livelihood. This study, a broad comparative analysis of African American women's and white women's changing relationships to home and work over the past forty years, provides an overview of how this shift is influencing the shape of families and the American economy. The book brings together diverse issues and statistics—the plight of single mothers; the time crunch faced by many parents; the problem of housework; patterns of work, employment and marriage; and much more—in an analysis that draws from history, economics, political science, sociology, government documents, and census data to put gender at the center of the social and economic changes of the past decades.
Susan Fraiman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231166348
- eISBN:
- 9780231543750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166348.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Domesticity gets a bad rap. We associate it with stasis, bourgeois accumulation, banality, and conservative family values. Yet in Extreme Domesticity, Susan Fraiman reminds us that keeping house is ...
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Domesticity gets a bad rap. We associate it with stasis, bourgeois accumulation, banality, and conservative family values. Yet in Extreme Domesticity, Susan Fraiman reminds us that keeping house is just as likely to involve dislocation, economic insecurity, creative improvisation, and queered notions of family. Her book links terms often seen as antithetical: domestic knowledge coinciding with female masculinity, feminism, and divorce; domestic routines elaborated in the context of Victorian poverty, twentieth-century immigration, and new millennial homelessness. Far from being exclusively middle-class, domestic concerns are shown to be all the more urgent and ongoing when shelter is precarious. Fraiman's reformulation frees domesticity from associations with conformity and sentimentality. Ranging across periods and genres, and diversifying the archive of domestic depictions, Fraiman's readings include novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, Sandra Cisneros, Jamaica Kincaid, Leslie Feinberg, and Lois-Ann Yamanaka; Edith Wharton's classic decorating guide; popular women's magazines; and ethnographic studies of homeless subcultures. Recognizing the labor and know-how needed to produce the space we call "home," Extreme Domesticityvindicates domestic practices and appreciates their centrality to everyday life. At the same time, it remains well aware of domesticity's dark side. Neither a romance of artisanal housewifery nor an apology for conservative notions of home, Extreme Domesticity stresses the heterogeneity of households and probes the multiplicity of domestic meanings.Less
Domesticity gets a bad rap. We associate it with stasis, bourgeois accumulation, banality, and conservative family values. Yet in Extreme Domesticity, Susan Fraiman reminds us that keeping house is just as likely to involve dislocation, economic insecurity, creative improvisation, and queered notions of family. Her book links terms often seen as antithetical: domestic knowledge coinciding with female masculinity, feminism, and divorce; domestic routines elaborated in the context of Victorian poverty, twentieth-century immigration, and new millennial homelessness. Far from being exclusively middle-class, domestic concerns are shown to be all the more urgent and ongoing when shelter is precarious. Fraiman's reformulation frees domesticity from associations with conformity and sentimentality. Ranging across periods and genres, and diversifying the archive of domestic depictions, Fraiman's readings include novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, Sandra Cisneros, Jamaica Kincaid, Leslie Feinberg, and Lois-Ann Yamanaka; Edith Wharton's classic decorating guide; popular women's magazines; and ethnographic studies of homeless subcultures. Recognizing the labor and know-how needed to produce the space we call "home," Extreme Domesticityvindicates domestic practices and appreciates their centrality to everyday life. At the same time, it remains well aware of domesticity's dark side. Neither a romance of artisanal housewifery nor an apology for conservative notions of home, Extreme Domesticity stresses the heterogeneity of households and probes the multiplicity of domestic meanings.
C. Y. Cyrus Chu and Ruoh-Rong Yu
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199578092
- eISBN:
- 9780191722424
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578092.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This book provides two kinds of connections and one possible elaboration concerning Chinese families. On the one hand, it explores the connection between the special features of Chinese families and ...
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This book provides two kinds of connections and one possible elaboration concerning Chinese families. On the one hand, it explores the connection between the special features of Chinese families and the existing theories mostly based on observations of Western societies, as well as the connection between two Chinese societies across the Taiwan Strait. On the other hand, it investigates whether the special features in Chinese families can broaden the scope of family analysis in general. This book consists of ten subjects, including co‐residence, marriage, fertility, education, mobility, gender preferences, family supports, filial feedbacks, housework allocation, and the dynamics of family norm changes. Most of the analyses in this book are theory‐based empirical studies. The empirical analyses are based upon data collected from a unique panel survey conducted in various areas across the Taiwan Strait, namely Taiwan and Southeast China. These places are chosen to be the two focal areas of study because they are geographically close, ethnically homogeneous, and all open to the modern market economy. A comprehensive analysis of these two areas gives us new insights concerning how Chinese families are similar/different in various dimensions, to what extent they are distinct from the Western ones, and how these similarities/differences were formed.Less
This book provides two kinds of connections and one possible elaboration concerning Chinese families. On the one hand, it explores the connection between the special features of Chinese families and the existing theories mostly based on observations of Western societies, as well as the connection between two Chinese societies across the Taiwan Strait. On the other hand, it investigates whether the special features in Chinese families can broaden the scope of family analysis in general. This book consists of ten subjects, including co‐residence, marriage, fertility, education, mobility, gender preferences, family supports, filial feedbacks, housework allocation, and the dynamics of family norm changes. Most of the analyses in this book are theory‐based empirical studies. The empirical analyses are based upon data collected from a unique panel survey conducted in various areas across the Taiwan Strait, namely Taiwan and Southeast China. These places are chosen to be the two focal areas of study because they are geographically close, ethnically homogeneous, and all open to the modern market economy. A comprehensive analysis of these two areas gives us new insights concerning how Chinese families are similar/different in various dimensions, to what extent they are distinct from the Western ones, and how these similarities/differences were formed.
C. Y. Cyrus Chu and Ruoh‐Rong Yu
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199578092
- eISBN:
- 9780191722424
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578092.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
Both sociologists and economists predict that the couple's relative resource holding determines their respective position in the family. This hypothesis is investigated in China and Taiwan from two ...
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Both sociologists and economists predict that the couple's relative resource holding determines their respective position in the family. This hypothesis is investigated in China and Taiwan from two different angles: the decision power of regular family decisions and the sharing of housework. Concerning household decisions, it is found that the above‐mentioned resource theory is basically valid in Chinese societies. An additional phenomenon observed is that co‐residing with the husband's parents decreases the wife's decision power. Concerning housework sharing, the wives' load in China is relatively lower and the pattern is more like that in the USA, whereas the wives' housework load in Taiwan is much heavier, similar to the case of Japan. In addition, co‐residing with the husband's parents in Taiwan also increases the wife's housework.Less
Both sociologists and economists predict that the couple's relative resource holding determines their respective position in the family. This hypothesis is investigated in China and Taiwan from two different angles: the decision power of regular family decisions and the sharing of housework. Concerning household decisions, it is found that the above‐mentioned resource theory is basically valid in Chinese societies. An additional phenomenon observed is that co‐residing with the husband's parents decreases the wife's decision power. Concerning housework sharing, the wives' load in China is relatively lower and the pattern is more like that in the USA, whereas the wives' housework load in Taiwan is much heavier, similar to the case of Japan. In addition, co‐residing with the husband's parents in Taiwan also increases the wife's housework.
Patrick McGovern, Stephen Hill, Colin Mills, and Michael White
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199213375
- eISBN:
- 9780191695865
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213375.003.0007
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
An argument is developed through four sections that interlace theory with evidence. Topics discussed include how employees, especially those with marital partners, contest overwork in the views they ...
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An argument is developed through four sections that interlace theory with evidence. Topics discussed include how employees, especially those with marital partners, contest overwork in the views they express, the influential ‘timesqueeze’ theory of overwork and the family and the argument that this needs to be extended to take account both of employers' internal policy development and of the non-materialist values within family relationships, employee perspective and differences in family outcomes between one-earner and two-earner couples, and the influences on the sharing of household work between partners. The analyses of this chapter naturally include family characteristics as well as workplace characteristics. It is believed that the main findings are sufficiently robust to have serious implications for issues about work demands on families.Less
An argument is developed through four sections that interlace theory with evidence. Topics discussed include how employees, especially those with marital partners, contest overwork in the views they express, the influential ‘timesqueeze’ theory of overwork and the family and the argument that this needs to be extended to take account both of employers' internal policy development and of the non-materialist values within family relationships, employee perspective and differences in family outcomes between one-earner and two-earner couples, and the influences on the sharing of household work between partners. The analyses of this chapter naturally include family characteristics as well as workplace characteristics. It is believed that the main findings are sufficiently robust to have serious implications for issues about work demands on families.
Ellen Seiter
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198711421
- eISBN:
- 9780191694905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198711421.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter explains the reasons behind choosing a parents support group: to provide necessary advice to first-time parents while preventing instances of child abuse as a focus group. Three group ...
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This chapter explains the reasons behind choosing a parents support group: to provide necessary advice to first-time parents while preventing instances of child abuse as a focus group. Three group interviews were conducted over a span of three years. As a result this chapter is able to show that the television viewing of children has made its way into the group’s discussions alongside other evidently important issues such as toilet training and feeding. Such a topic was openly welcomed and discussed by the members of the group as most of them were able to share their concerns on how television shows may greatly affect marriage and child-rearing processes — in contrast to the optimism expressed by such scholars as Lisa Lewis and John Fiske, among others.Less
This chapter explains the reasons behind choosing a parents support group: to provide necessary advice to first-time parents while preventing instances of child abuse as a focus group. Three group interviews were conducted over a span of three years. As a result this chapter is able to show that the television viewing of children has made its way into the group’s discussions alongside other evidently important issues such as toilet training and feeding. Such a topic was openly welcomed and discussed by the members of the group as most of them were able to share their concerns on how television shows may greatly affect marriage and child-rearing processes — in contrast to the optimism expressed by such scholars as Lisa Lewis and John Fiske, among others.
Avner Offer
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199216628
- eISBN:
- 9780191696015
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216628.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
This chapter examines household appliances and the use of time. During the post-war years, household appliances were the magic boxes of affluence. Appliances like radio and television, which provided ...
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This chapter examines household appliances and the use of time. During the post-war years, household appliances were the magic boxes of affluence. Appliances like radio and television, which provided sensual arousal, diffused very rapidly almost regardless of income and almost as fast in the USA as in Britain. Those that merely lightened the effort of housework diffused at a rate that tracked the growth and levels of income in the two countries. They did not shorten domestic working hours until the introduction of television made compelling inroads into domestic time. However, sensual arousal was eroded by exposure. Television viewing expanded up to the point where it gave little more satisfaction than housework.Less
This chapter examines household appliances and the use of time. During the post-war years, household appliances were the magic boxes of affluence. Appliances like radio and television, which provided sensual arousal, diffused very rapidly almost regardless of income and almost as fast in the USA as in Britain. Those that merely lightened the effort of housework diffused at a rate that tracked the growth and levels of income in the two countries. They did not shorten domestic working hours until the introduction of television made compelling inroads into domestic time. However, sensual arousal was eroded by exposure. Television viewing expanded up to the point where it gave little more satisfaction than housework.
Joanna Bourke
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203858
- eISBN:
- 9780191676024
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203858.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
This book examines the lives of women in Ireland between 1890 and 1914, tracing the shift of their labour out of the fields and into the home. It shows how their position within the employment market ...
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This book examines the lives of women in Ireland between 1890 and 1914, tracing the shift of their labour out of the fields and into the home. It shows how their position within the employment market deteriorated: married women came to be increasingly dependent on their husbands' earnings, while economic opportunities for unmarried and widowed women collapsed. More and more women devoted all their productive enterprise to performing housework. This documented study analyses the crucial elements in this change: the coincidence of sectoral shifts in the employment market, increasing investment in the rural economy, and the growth of a labour-intensive household sector. Controversially, the book argues that Irish women welcomed their altered role, finding housework preferable to many of the other options available to them.Less
This book examines the lives of women in Ireland between 1890 and 1914, tracing the shift of their labour out of the fields and into the home. It shows how their position within the employment market deteriorated: married women came to be increasingly dependent on their husbands' earnings, while economic opportunities for unmarried and widowed women collapsed. More and more women devoted all their productive enterprise to performing housework. This documented study analyses the crucial elements in this change: the coincidence of sectoral shifts in the employment market, increasing investment in the rural economy, and the growth of a labour-intensive household sector. Controversially, the book argues that Irish women welcomed their altered role, finding housework preferable to many of the other options available to them.
JOANNA BOURKE
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203858
- eISBN:
- 9780191676024
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203858.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
The central elements of this chapter are contained in P. T. McGinley's fairy tale, ‘The Three Sisters’. The story began with Donegal women earning a living through skilled embroidery. One day, a ...
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The central elements of this chapter are contained in P. T. McGinley's fairy tale, ‘The Three Sisters’. The story began with Donegal women earning a living through skilled embroidery. One day, a fairy took pity on their plight and assumed control of their work. His intentions were noble, but ultimately unproductive. In late 19th-century Ireland the rural reformers played the part of the kindly fairy. Home industries were promoted on an unprecedented scale. This chapter examines the impetus to develop female industries. Various promotional schemes were started, but they failed to secure a market for the products. What caused the collapse of home industries? Equally pertinent, why did many women continue working in home industries? Female home industries were inseparable from housework. In the minds of the promoters, the schemes achieved their major aim: to serve as an intermediate form of work between agricultural labour and housework.Less
The central elements of this chapter are contained in P. T. McGinley's fairy tale, ‘The Three Sisters’. The story began with Donegal women earning a living through skilled embroidery. One day, a fairy took pity on their plight and assumed control of their work. His intentions were noble, but ultimately unproductive. In late 19th-century Ireland the rural reformers played the part of the kindly fairy. Home industries were promoted on an unprecedented scale. This chapter examines the impetus to develop female industries. Various promotional schemes were started, but they failed to secure a market for the products. What caused the collapse of home industries? Equally pertinent, why did many women continue working in home industries? Female home industries were inseparable from housework. In the minds of the promoters, the schemes achieved their major aim: to serve as an intermediate form of work between agricultural labour and housework.
JOANNA BOURKE
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203858
- eISBN:
- 9780191676024
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203858.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
In rural Ireland between 1890 and 1914, changes in housework raised the economic value of domestic production, resulting in a shift from paid employment and familial farm labour to unwaged domestic ...
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In rural Ireland between 1890 and 1914, changes in housework raised the economic value of domestic production, resulting in a shift from paid employment and familial farm labour to unwaged domestic work. All areas of housework underwent revolutionary processes. These innovations were noted by the Revd Joseph Guinan in 1915, when he revisited his first parish in Rathmore. On entering the parlour/drawing-room of the parochial house, he discovered that, during his twenty years' absence, the hearthstone fireplace and turf-barrel had been replaced by a grate and a coal box, and a piano stood in the place of the old chest of drawers. Improved living standards and other domestic reforms altered the labour of houseworkers. Rural women were more likely to be classed as houseworkers than urban women, and ninety per cent of all married women claimed to be houseworkers.Less
In rural Ireland between 1890 and 1914, changes in housework raised the economic value of domestic production, resulting in a shift from paid employment and familial farm labour to unwaged domestic work. All areas of housework underwent revolutionary processes. These innovations were noted by the Revd Joseph Guinan in 1915, when he revisited his first parish in Rathmore. On entering the parlour/drawing-room of the parochial house, he discovered that, during his twenty years' absence, the hearthstone fireplace and turf-barrel had been replaced by a grate and a coal box, and a piano stood in the place of the old chest of drawers. Improved living standards and other domestic reforms altered the labour of houseworkers. Rural women were more likely to be classed as houseworkers than urban women, and ninety per cent of all married women claimed to be houseworkers.
JOANNA BOURKE
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203858
- eISBN:
- 9780191676024
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203858.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
In Ireland, housework has always required training. However, in certain periods the training that females received at home came to be deemed inadequate, and organisations arose to supplement it. From ...
More
In Ireland, housework has always required training. However, in certain periods the training that females received at home came to be deemed inadequate, and organisations arose to supplement it. From the 1880s, the poor domestic skills of Irishwomen began to attract comment as one of the more serious causes of distress in rural Ireland. By the 1890s, these calls had become increasingly vocal. Education in housework came to be seen as a way of stimulating a revolution in the unwaged domestic sphere. The organisations devoting capital to educational schemes in domestic labour shared a vision of a prosperous countryside which could only be realised by the increased and improved expenditure of unwaged labour in the home. In response to the preoccupation with domestic standards of living, private and public organisations developed schemes designed to teach housework to Irish women.Less
In Ireland, housework has always required training. However, in certain periods the training that females received at home came to be deemed inadequate, and organisations arose to supplement it. From the 1880s, the poor domestic skills of Irishwomen began to attract comment as one of the more serious causes of distress in rural Ireland. By the 1890s, these calls had become increasingly vocal. Education in housework came to be seen as a way of stimulating a revolution in the unwaged domestic sphere. The organisations devoting capital to educational schemes in domestic labour shared a vision of a prosperous countryside which could only be realised by the increased and improved expenditure of unwaged labour in the home. In response to the preoccupation with domestic standards of living, private and public organisations developed schemes designed to teach housework to Irish women.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This introductory chapter provides an overview of sexism in sociology. In much sociology, women as a social group are invisible or inadequately represented: they take the insubstantial form of ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of sexism in sociology. In much sociology, women as a social group are invisible or inadequately represented: they take the insubstantial form of ghosts, shadows, or stereotyped characters. This issue of sexism has a direct relevance to the main topic of this book: a survey of housewives and their attitudes to housework which was carried out in London in 1971. The conventional sociological approach to housework could be termed ‘sexist’: it has treated housework merely as an aspect of the feminine role in the family — as a part of women's role in marriage, or as a dimension of child-rearing — not as a work role. This book thus departs from sociological tradition and takes a new approach to women's domestic situation by looking at housework as a job and seeing it as work, analogous to any other kind of work in modern society.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of sexism in sociology. In much sociology, women as a social group are invisible or inadequately represented: they take the insubstantial form of ghosts, shadows, or stereotyped characters. This issue of sexism has a direct relevance to the main topic of this book: a survey of housewives and their attitudes to housework which was carried out in London in 1971. The conventional sociological approach to housework could be termed ‘sexist’: it has treated housework merely as an aspect of the feminine role in the family — as a part of women's role in marriage, or as a dimension of child-rearing — not as a work role. This book thus departs from sociological tradition and takes a new approach to women's domestic situation by looking at housework as a job and seeing it as work, analogous to any other kind of work in modern society.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter describes the study of housework. The sociological neglect of housework was demonstrated in the last chapter. Because so little material exists, the study presented in this book was ...
More
This chapter describes the study of housework. The sociological neglect of housework was demonstrated in the last chapter. Because so little material exists, the study presented in this book was conceived as an exploratory, pilot survey. A first aim is to describe the housewife's work situation and the housewife's attitudes to housework. A second is to examine patterns of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with housework in relation to a number of variables, including social class, education, the division of labour in marriage, technical equipment, and patterns of social interaction. A third aim is to suggest possible hypotheses directed towards explaining differences between housewives in attitudes to housework and the housework situation. The sample consisted of forty London housewives, all aged between twenty and thirty at the time of interview.Less
This chapter describes the study of housework. The sociological neglect of housework was demonstrated in the last chapter. Because so little material exists, the study presented in this book was conceived as an exploratory, pilot survey. A first aim is to describe the housewife's work situation and the housewife's attitudes to housework. A second is to examine patterns of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with housework in relation to a number of variables, including social class, education, the division of labour in marriage, technical equipment, and patterns of social interaction. A third aim is to suggest possible hypotheses directed towards explaining differences between housewives in attitudes to housework and the housework situation. The sample consisted of forty London housewives, all aged between twenty and thirty at the time of interview.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter discusses how housewives themselves perceive the housework situation. Two conflicting stereotypes of housework exist in popular thinking today. According to one, the housewife is an ...
More
This chapter discusses how housewives themselves perceive the housework situation. Two conflicting stereotypes of housework exist in popular thinking today. According to one, the housewife is an oppressed worker: she slaves away in work that is degrading, unpleasant, and essentially self-negating. According to the other, housework provides the opportunity for endless creative and leisure pursuits. Throughout the forty interviews, a clear perception of housework as work emerges. The women in the sample experience and define housework as labour, akin to that demanded by any job situation. Their observations tie in closely with many findings of the sociology of work; the aspects of housework that are cited as satisfying or dissatisfying have their parallels in the factory or office world. This equivalence is emphasized further by the women's own tendency to compare their reactions to housework with their experience of working outside the home.Less
This chapter discusses how housewives themselves perceive the housework situation. Two conflicting stereotypes of housework exist in popular thinking today. According to one, the housewife is an oppressed worker: she slaves away in work that is degrading, unpleasant, and essentially self-negating. According to the other, housework provides the opportunity for endless creative and leisure pursuits. Throughout the forty interviews, a clear perception of housework as work emerges. The women in the sample experience and define housework as labour, akin to that demanded by any job situation. Their observations tie in closely with many findings of the sociology of work; the aspects of housework that are cited as satisfying or dissatisfying have their parallels in the factory or office world. This equivalence is emphasized further by the women's own tendency to compare their reactions to housework with their experience of working outside the home.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter traces the patterns of domesticity in the present sample of housewives. These findings are tied in with assertions about social class differences in domesticity which abound in much of ...
More
This chapter traces the patterns of domesticity in the present sample of housewives. These findings are tied in with assertions about social class differences in domesticity which abound in much of the literature dealing with women's place in the family. As the study indicates, there is no social class difference in the frequency with which housewives are satisfied or dissatisfied with their work. The predominant feeling is one of dissatisfaction — twenty-eight of the forty women come out as dissatisfied. If education is taken instead of social class, there is still no difference between groups of women: equal proportions of those educated to sixteen and beyond are satisfied and dissatisfied with housework.Less
This chapter traces the patterns of domesticity in the present sample of housewives. These findings are tied in with assertions about social class differences in domesticity which abound in much of the literature dealing with women's place in the family. As the study indicates, there is no social class difference in the frequency with which housewives are satisfied or dissatisfied with their work. The predominant feeling is one of dissatisfaction — twenty-eight of the forty women come out as dissatisfied. If education is taken instead of social class, there is still no difference between groups of women: equal proportions of those educated to sixteen and beyond are satisfied and dissatisfied with housework.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter examines the role of the structure and content of work in the case of the housewife. Answers given by the forty women in the sample to questions about work tasks suggest that certain ...
More
This chapter examines the role of the structure and content of work in the case of the housewife. Answers given by the forty women in the sample to questions about work tasks suggest that certain characteristics of housework may be more or less uniformly experienced as dissatisfying while others are potentially rewarding. A look at the social class dimension also indicates that there is a considerable area of shared response to housework which may reflect on the nature of the work itself, and the conditions under which it is done. Hence it would seem both helpful and important to examine a number of aspects of work that industrial sociology has highlighted as critical in the explanation of job satisfaction. These are the experiences of monotony, fragmentation, and excessive pace in work and social interaction patterns. Two other dimensions of work looked at in this chapter include working hours and the technical environment.Less
This chapter examines the role of the structure and content of work in the case of the housewife. Answers given by the forty women in the sample to questions about work tasks suggest that certain characteristics of housework may be more or less uniformly experienced as dissatisfying while others are potentially rewarding. A look at the social class dimension also indicates that there is a considerable area of shared response to housework which may reflect on the nature of the work itself, and the conditions under which it is done. Hence it would seem both helpful and important to examine a number of aspects of work that industrial sociology has highlighted as critical in the explanation of job satisfaction. These are the experiences of monotony, fragmentation, and excessive pace in work and social interaction patterns. Two other dimensions of work looked at in this chapter include working hours and the technical environment.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter focuses on two dimensions of the housewife's job definition: standards and routines. In describing her daily life, every woman interviewed outlined the kind of standards she thought it ...
More
This chapter focuses on two dimensions of the housewife's job definition: standards and routines. In describing her daily life, every woman interviewed outlined the kind of standards she thought it important to stick to in housework, and the type of routine she used to achieve this end. There was, of course, a great deal of variation between one housewife and another. Some set what could be called ‘perfectionist’ standards, while others adopted a more casual attitude to order and cleanliness in the home. For some there were rigid routines repeated in the same way from one day to the next; for others, routines were more flexible. Different criteria are used in defining standards. Cleanliness may be the basic aim, with untidiness tolerated; or there may be an attitude of ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ while the dust under the beds and the dirt hidden in crevices pass relatively unnoticed.Less
This chapter focuses on two dimensions of the housewife's job definition: standards and routines. In describing her daily life, every woman interviewed outlined the kind of standards she thought it important to stick to in housework, and the type of routine she used to achieve this end. There was, of course, a great deal of variation between one housewife and another. Some set what could be called ‘perfectionist’ standards, while others adopted a more casual attitude to order and cleanliness in the home. For some there were rigid routines repeated in the same way from one day to the next; for others, routines were more flexible. Different criteria are used in defining standards. Cleanliness may be the basic aim, with untidiness tolerated; or there may be an attitude of ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ while the dust under the beds and the dirt hidden in crevices pass relatively unnoticed.
