Women's work is a field of labour assumed to be solely the realm of women and associated with specific stereotypical jobs considered as uniquely feminine or domestic duties throughout history. It is most commonly used in reference to the unpaid labor typically performed by that of a mother or wife to upkeep the home and children.
Women's work is generally unpaid or paid less than "men's work" and is not as highly valued as "men's work". Much of women's work is not included in official statistics on labour, making much of the work that women typically do virtually invisible. For example, throughout much of the 20th century, the women working on a
family farm
A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family. It is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance.
Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...
, no matter how much work they did, would be counted in, for example, the
US census as being unemployed, whereas the men doing the same or even less work were counted as being employed as farmers. Similarly, many acts of creativity, such as tapestry, quilting, sewing, and weaving, which are often performed by women, have been traditionally undervalued by the mainstream art world, classified as women's work and thus, until recently, rarely included in art exhibitions, galleries or museums.
Types
There are several types of work that are considered women's work; they involve child care, housework, and occupations such as
nursing
Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
that have been dominated by women in recent decades.
Child care
The term "women's work" may indicate a role with children as defined by
nature
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
in that only women are biologically capable of performing them:
pregnancy
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...
,
childbirth
Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to ...
, and
breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process where breast milk is fed to a child. Infants may suck the milk directly from the breast, or milk may be extracted with a Breast pump, pump and then fed to the infant. The World Health Orga ...
. It may also refer to professions that involve these functions:
midwife
A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...
and
wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...
. "Women's work" may also refer to roles in
raising children, particularly within the home:
diaper
A diaper (, North American English) or a nappy (British English, Australian English, Hiberno-English) is a type of underwear that allows the wearer to urinate or defecate without using a toilet, by absorbing or containing waste products to p ...
changing and related
hygiene
Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...
,
toilet training
Toilet training (also potty training or toilet learning) is the process of training someone, particularly a toddler or infant, to use the toilet for urination and defecation. Attitudes toward training in recent history have fluctuated substantial ...
,
bathing
Bathing is the immersion of the body, wholly or partially, usually in water, but often in another medium such as hot air. It is most commonly practised as part of personal cleansing, and less frequently for relaxation or as a leisure activity. ...
, clothing, feeding, monitoring, and education with regard to
personal care
Personal care products are consumer products which are applied on various external parts of the body such as skin, hair, nails, lips, external genital and anal areas, as well as teeth and mucous membrane of the oral cavity, in order to make ...
.
Women-dominated industries
Women's work may also refer to professions that include childcare such as
governess
A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...
,
nanny
A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
,
day care
Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...
worker,
au pair
An au pair (; : au pairs) is a person working for, and living as part of, a homestay, host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some homemaking, housework, and receive a monetary ...
, or professional positions such as
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
(especially teaching children) and
nurse
Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
.
House work and home production
"Women's work" may also refer to roles related to
housekeeping
Housekeeping is the management and routine support activities of running and maintaining an organized physical institution occupied or used by people, like a house, ship, hospital or factory, such as cleaning, tidying/organizing, cooking, shopp ...
, such as
cooking
Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or Food safety, safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from ...
,
sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening pieces of textiles together using a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeo ...
,
ironing
Ironing is the use of an iron (appliance), iron, usually heated, to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of , depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the lon ...
, and
cleaning
Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for beauty, aesthetic, hygiene, hygienic, Function (engineering), function ...
. It may also refer to professions that include these functions, such as
maid
A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...
and
cook
Cook or The Cook may refer to:
Food preparation
* Cooking, the preparation of food
* Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food
* Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry
* C ...
. Though much of "women's work" is indoors, some is outdoors, such as fetching water,
grocery
A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...
shopping or food
foraging
Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...
, and
gardening
Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...
.
Until the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, society was primarily
agrarian and women were just as involved in working on farms as men.
A
proverb
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...
ial couplet runs: ''"Man may work from sun to sun, But woman's work is never done"''.
Related concepts include
gender role
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
s,
wage labour
Wage labour (also wage labor in American English), usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labour, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labour power under ...
and
employment
Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
, female
workforce
In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed):
\text = \text + \text
Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...
, and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
(cf.
gender roles and feminism). The term may be
pejorative
A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hosti ...
, because historical advertisements have promoted the misrepresentation of women as only house maids.
Many working women juggle a 'double-day shift,' which includes balancing a full-time job with full-time household responsibilities, a convention still prevalent in modern workplaces. The labor undertaken by women within the household is frequently overlooked and undervalued.
Effects on relations between men and women
The term
micropower refers to having greater power in the home; which means that it is easier for men to avoid house work and care labor. Micro power may also be a tool men use to prevent women from entering the workforce. When women are kept in the private sphere, men remain the sole provider financially, which provides headway in American society.

In contrast to women's work, "men's work" involves the usage of
physical strength
Physical strength is the measure of an individual's exertion of force on physical objects. Increasing physical strength is the goal of strength training.
Overview
An individual's physical strength is determined by two factors: the cross-section ...
or work outdoors, also considered macro power which is defined as public sphere power; mechanical, electrical or electronic knowledge and skill; employment ("bread-winning", "bringing home the bacon"); most dealings with money; or higher reasoning to perform tasks. "Men's work" is higher paid and is viewed to have greater value.
Among some people, men's work is considered to be the opposite of "women's work" and thus does not include activities within the home or with children, though "men's work" traditionally includes work that involves both (such as repairing appliances and disciplining children).
Effects of women's work on women and girls
Women's work and therefore women themselves can be "rendered invisible" in situations in which women's work is a supportive role to "men's work".
For example, in
peace negotiations, terms and language used may refer to '
combatant
Combatant is the legal status of a person entitled to directly participate in hostilities during an armed conflict, and may be intentionally targeted by an adverse party for their participation in the armed conflict. Combatants are not afforded i ...
s' to indicate the army in question.
This use of language fails to recognize the supportive roles that women fill as contracted people of the army such as army cooks.
In places where water needs to be collected and transported by hand and brought back to the household, women are found to do a large percentage of this chore.
For example, In
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
, women make up 62% of the number of people who are responsible for water collection and transportation.
Girls make up another 9% of those who fulfill water collection and transportation responsibilities.
Men contribute 23% to water collection and transportation with boys responsible for 6% of the chore.
The gender distribution of water collection and transportation greater impacts women and girls by contributing to "Time Poverty".
This makes it more difficult for them to find the time to participate in activities such as "
school
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...
ing,
paid work...or
leisure
Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, Employment, work, job hunting, Housekeeping, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as ...
".
Women in men's work
Women who are in jobs or positions that are predominantly viewed as "men's work" may masculinize themselves in order to be viewed as rightly in that job or position.
For example, it was found that "
Hillary Clinton's language became more masculinized the higher she climbed the political ladder".
Women in politics
Women are making significant strides in terms of their presence in the political field.
The number of women being elected into government positions is increasing, and they are proving to be a significant voting demographic.
There are still significant changes to be made in regard to women being seen as equals in the political sector however, as there are deeply routed gender stereotypes embedded in our institutions which view politics as a "masculine" field of work.
The 2008 presidential campaign was seen to be a pivotal moment for women's participation in politics.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
was the first woman to run for president who was seen as a true contender, and
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...
was the first Republican woman vice-president nominee.
Both women however faced many criticisms on their political ability due to
gender stereotypes
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
.
Clinton for example, was often deemed as being too cold and "unlikeable" to be president.
In contrast,
Palin was often accused of not being intelligent enough, or being too pretty to participate in politics.
It was also often questioned whether she would be too busy with motherhood to fully dedicate herself to being vice-president.
Gender biases and stereotypes as such, are the reality for women participating in politics, or what has been considered as "men's work". These gendered ideals of labour can be looked to as a significant contributing factor to the underrepresentation of
women in politics.
Women in STEM
Only 28% of the
STEM
Stem or STEM most commonly refers to:
* Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant
* Stem group
* Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Stem or STEM can also refer to:
Language and writing
* Word stem, part of a word respon ...
workforce is made up by women.
In early education, there are approximately an equal number of boys and girls who take math and science courses.
However, the number of women who choose to further their studies in science or math in post secondary school drops significantly.
A contributing factor to this is the
implicit bias that science and math fields are typically seen as "male", while arts and humanities are more often seen as "female".
This
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...
not only impacts the ways people view women in these fields, but it also creates an inner bias where women are less likely to pursue a career in science or math.
There is often also a negative association with women who partake in "men's work".
Unless a woman is quite obviously successful in their job, they are often seen as less competent than men in these "male" positions.
In contrast, if a woman is competent and successful in a job that is considered to be more "masculine", then she is much less likely to be viewed as likeable.
Both likeability and competence are needed to be truly successful in these fields, which creates another barrier in having a proportionate number of women to men in the
STEM
Stem or STEM most commonly refers to:
* Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant
* Stem group
* Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Stem or STEM can also refer to:
Language and writing
* Word stem, part of a word respon ...
fields.
See also
*
Sexual division of labour
*
Housewife or stay-at-home mother
*
Women in firefighting
*
Female astronauts
*
Maternalism
Maternalism is the public expression of domestic values associated with motherhood. It centers on the language of motherhood to justify women's political activities, actions and validate state or public policies. Maternalism is an extension of "em ...
*
Distaff
A distaff (, , also called a rock"Rock." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.) is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly use ...
, a tool of spinning used metaphorically to indicate female matters
References
External links
Gender roles-
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
, March 22, 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Work
Unpaid work
Feminism