Industrialization had already transformed the housewife's life, and it was not about to stop. Gas, electricity, running water, cars, ready-made clothes revolutionized everything all over again in the 20th century. And yet the hours women spent on household tasks did not budge for most of the century for a variety of reasons. I also touch on what it meant to be a housewife in communist countries like East Germany, Hungary, and China. But basically, no matter where you were, running a household boiled down to a whole lot of work.
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