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A review by meli65
More Work For Mother: The Ironies Of Household Technology From The Open Hearth To The Microwave by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
5.0
This book is a little dated (written in the early 80s) but still has tons of interesting information. The premise is that although household technology keeps improving, women still spend the same amount of time doing housework -- why is that?
Since this book predates Amazon there is no way for her to know that things have come full circle. I hadn't realized that housewives of old had practically everything they needed delivered to them. With the development of the automobile, so too did mother's job change to driving around to stores and running errands all day. With that lens, the rise of home delivery again is a wonderful thing, especially for new mothers with babies and toddlers at home.
It was also fascinating to read about the different lives led by the "comfortable" and the rest of us over the last 100 or so years. For example, she points out how tenements had no kitchen storage and just one table that served all needs (homework, piecework, meal preparation, and eating) so that "good manners" of place settings and such were really only for the well-to-do.
It's great stuff, and essential reading for any mother struggling with why there are still so few hours in a day.
Since this book predates Amazon there is no way for her to know that things have come full circle. I hadn't realized that housewives of old had practically everything they needed delivered to them. With the development of the automobile, so too did mother's job change to driving around to stores and running errands all day. With that lens, the rise of home delivery again is a wonderful thing, especially for new mothers with babies and toddlers at home.
It was also fascinating to read about the different lives led by the "comfortable" and the rest of us over the last 100 or so years. For example, she points out how tenements had no kitchen storage and just one table that served all needs (homework, piecework, meal preparation, and eating) so that "good manners" of place settings and such were really only for the well-to-do.
It's great stuff, and essential reading for any mother struggling with why there are still so few hours in a day.