Household science: a new occupation for women?

An educational and social movement to raise the status of housework by emphasising its scientific nature developed in Europe, North America and other countries in the period from around 1880. This has mostly escaped the attention of scholars, who have failed to see how cleaning up homes and improving domestic nutrition could have an impact on public health. This article focuses chiefly on another aspect of the household science movement: its consequences for women’s work both inside and outside homes. Notions of scientific efficiency and improved house design, together with attention to the poor working conditions of housewives had a lasting effect on the way housework was done. New housework technologies created professional opportunities for women on the fringes of the scientific/technical world.