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Socialist Review Index (1993–1996) | Socialist Review 177 Contents
From Socialist Review, No. 177, July/August 1994.
Copyright © Socialist Review.
Copied with thanks from the Socialist Review Archive.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
A friend of mine told me once that her mother ironed the sheets by spreading them out on the floor of the living room and ironed crouching as low as possible so as not to get in the way of any member of the family watching television. The sheer futility of ironing sheets struck me, but the blatancy of her mother’s servile status appalled me.
This was 20 years ago. A Gallup survey on housework in this month’s edition of Good Housekeeping (not a magazine known for challenging women’s oppression) thankfully reveals that some of the old attitudes have disappeared while others sadly have not.
According to the survey nearly one in three adults is a full time ‘housewife’ although most would prefer not to be called that. Of the women who profess to be responsible for the home, 98 percent of them have outside interests as well. The good thing is that most women feel they have a right to go to work and do the things they want – 80 percent of working women don’t feel guilty about working outside the home and 88 percent don’t feel guilty about other interests.
Women’s attitudes towards themselves as housewives are contradictory. Although most women nowadays have entered the workforce albeit in low paid, part time jobs, 60 percent of people interviewed said they believed that ‘being a housewife is something to be proud of’. This is double edged. Under capitalism women are brought up to settle for less and consequently often have low expectations of themselves, and yet it is clear that women are demanding recognition for the work they do.
Over the last 30 years the skills shortage in Britain has meant that women have been pulled into the workforce, but at the same time, there has been a drive to retain the family structure and keep housework privatised. The family has evolved with women having more rights, but these come with a price tag.
The right to work may have been firmly established but the burden on women is greater than it was 30 years ago. Women now have to hold down one or maybe two jobs, bear responsibility for childcare and look after the house as well. The statistics in the survey are depressing – 88 percent of women claim to be responsible for housework. Among full time women workers 80 percent say housework is their responsibility.
The flip side of this is that by entering the workforce women can challenge male attitudes (something which the Good Housekeeping survey does not touch on). The Timex strike, the dispute at Elkes Biscuits and teachers’ strikes are all examples of women fighting back.
It is through this kind of struggle that women can not only demand employment rights and better pay but can start challenging ideas about their role in society which Good Housekeeping by its very existence does not.
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