R
I know this might surprise some of you here, but the traditional housewife as it's understood in modern times isn't some timeless wisdom or a perennial objective truth. It was a pretty recent product of the nuclear family household and the modern state dependent economy that relied on geographic dispersion of individuals, something that got more and more widespread starting in the 20th century.
Before that, the state wasn't so visible in the daily lives of extended families and communities, who often worked together to share the labor between each other to maximize the energy going toward survival. Women, through a web of obligations, would help other women do the housework in each house, and the kids would be out playing in the fields.
Women aren't built to handle housework and child rearing alone. They need other women to help them do it competently and efficiently, which is why people hire maids these days. Really we've outsourced just about everything we used to handle locally to the state and the market, whether it's knitting clothes, preparing food, securing water, or whatever else.
Before that, the state wasn't so visible in the daily lives of extended families and communities, who often worked together to share the labor between each other to maximize the energy going toward survival. Women, through a web of obligations, would help other women do the housework in each house, and the kids would be out playing in the fields.
Women aren't built to handle housework and child rearing alone. They need other women to help them do it competently and efficiently, which is why people hire maids these days. Really we've outsourced just about everything we used to handle locally to the state and the market, whether it's knitting clothes, preparing food, securing water, or whatever else.
