Why more work for mother? Knowledge and household behavior 1870-1945

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Northwestern University; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050700024633
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 1-41
• 关键词: mortality decline; public-health; LABOR; industrial; england; FAMILY; time

摘要

It is widely agreed that the burden of housework in the industrialized West did not decrease as much as might be expected since 1880, and may have actually increased for long periods. The article proposes anew explanation: that increases in knowledge on the causes and transmission mechanisms of infectious diseases persuaded women that household members' health depended on the amount of housework carried out. The article traces the origin of this knowledge in the scientific developments of the nineteenth century and describes the mechanisms by which households were persuaded to allocate more time and resources to housework.