Over the ages women’s status in the society has uplifted and changed but still with the changing trend of, culture and life style new issues are obvious to come.
Women perform various house work, taking care of children, carrying out assorted jobs for husbands, are work which is not less than a paid employment in an office or factory. It is important to note that she performs her household jobs without any holiday unlike the employed people. Those women who work, their husband and children barely increase their contribution to house work. As a result the employed woman gives up most of her leisure to carry out the responsibility of family.
The reality of housework is that women’s work in the home average 56 hours per week for the full time homemaker and 26 hours per week for the employed wife/mother. Women’s activities at home are not considered as ‘work’. Economists have helped us to recognize the importance of women’s work in the family by estimating the monitory value of home making. These estimates range from $4705 (1968) through $8200 (1972) to over $13000 per year in (1973) depending on whether the work of house maker is considered equivalent to skilled, unskilled or a professional worker respectively. For example is child care comparable to baby sitting at $0.75 per hour, to a nursery school aid at $3 per hour, or to the care of a child psychologist at $30 per hour?
It is more surprising that women’s working hours have not declined because of many appliances (washing machines ,gas, electric ranges, blender etc) and convenience products (frozen food , dried food etc). The truth is that appliances tend to be energy saving not time saving and lead to rise in standard of housekeeping .Hence women today spend more time than their grandmother, doing laundry, since family members demand more frequent changes of clothes today than earlier generations. Husband and children expect more varied meals. Furthermore increasing concern of good nutrition means that many homemakers are now spending more time preparing foods which not available in market places or which are available at very high cost.
