Domestic Technology in the Past
Domestic Technology in the past There is information about the history of domestic technology and its effect on gender involvement in the home (ca 1850 - 1990). These are mainly changing standards, the nature of family life, and new roles for women in the home. Instead of removing housework, domestic technology accompanied to a re-definition of how this work must be organized and done.
Housework in the 19th century
The 19th century home The organization, physical effort and tools that were used to do housework before modern family equipment became available, were the result of a home life based on mutual cooperation. The family in the 19th century was a unit of production. Today the family is mainly a unit of consumption. Many of the tools needed for their daily demand were produced at home and purchases were a short list of goods: tea, coffee and sugar were expensive and carefully used. Metal items like stoves, pots, tools and guns were bought because only talented artisans were able to make them. Many other tools like wood spoons and washboards were made when the family settled.
In villages, services like heat, water and rubbish cleaners had to be provided and maintained daily by the family whose devices were tools but not machines. Women were responsible for the growing, buying and preparation of the family.
Especially in villages, jobs were divided between the men and women. For couples who always stay at home, marriage was a survival. When the home became modern, this mutual cooperation became lost. Men cared for the wheat and growing the linen, and women took care of the garden. Men cut and pulled the wood for fires, women did cooking. Some jobs like carrying water, milking and peeling apples were done by men and women.
Changing roles of women in the home
In general, the finding of tools by the different classes of families showed the number of servants that every family employed.
For the upper class, the first tools
Housework in the 19th century
The 19th century home The organization, physical effort and tools that were used to do housework before modern family equipment became available, were the result of a home life based on mutual cooperation. The family in the 19th century was a unit of production. Today the family is mainly a unit of consumption. Many of the tools needed for their daily demand were produced at home and purchases were a short list of goods: tea, coffee and sugar were expensive and carefully used. Metal items like stoves, pots, tools and guns were bought because only talented artisans were able to make them. Many other tools like wood spoons and washboards were made when the family settled.
In villages, services like heat, water and rubbish cleaners had to be provided and maintained daily by the family whose devices were tools but not machines. Women were responsible for the growing, buying and preparation of the family.
Especially in villages, jobs were divided between the men and women. For couples who always stay at home, marriage was a survival. When the home became modern, this mutual cooperation became lost. Men cared for the wheat and growing the linen, and women took care of the garden. Men cut and pulled the wood for fires, women did cooking. Some jobs like carrying water, milking and peeling apples were done by men and women.
Changing roles of women in the home
In general, the finding of tools by the different classes of families showed the number of servants that every family employed.
For the upper class, the first tools