A Comparison of the Household Work of Married Females: The Mid‐1920s and the Late 1960s

The current view ofthe time spent in household work by marriedfemales is that it has not changed during the 20th century. One much quoted study shows the workday of thefull‐time housewife increasingfrom the mid‐1920s to the late 1960s. This article uses the data thatform the basis of such judgments to reestimate the time married women in the mid‐1 920s and the late 1960s spent in household work. Revised estimates show that the household workday of married women fell from 7.35 hours per day to 6.31 hours in 1967–1968, a decline of 14%. The household workday offull‐time housewives fell by 7.5% to about 6.84 hours per day, whereas that of employed married womenfell to 5.13 hours per day. Of the components of household workfood preparation and cleanup declined the most, whereas the time devoted to marketing and management rose.