General Discussion

for millennia in the European world they worked alongside the rest of the family on the farms, tending crops and animals and doing the repetitive but necessary work of preparing meals and clothing for the family. When industry and factories came into being, they often worked in factories alongside the rest of the family to supplement the meager wages of the men and children. It was only with the development of a comfortable middle class - largely in the 19th century - that women began to have leisure time, because they could hire poor young women, either immigrants or fresh off the farm, to do some of the grunge work such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. The picture of a nuclear family, with the mother staying at home to do her housework in heels and pearls, is largely a mid-20th century myth, and an ideal that could only be afforded by some lucky few.