Introduction and Exegesis

Domesticity has changed a great deal in the past few centuries. Domesticity used to be a matter of fact; there was no choice regarding it for it was something that had to be done. In the Victorian period most women were responsible for clothing, feeding, educating, and sanitizing their families. The women who were not responsible for such things were usually well off and could afford to hire servants and buy expensive appliances to reduce the labor involved in such tasks. Now, women do not have to be rich to avoid such tasks, as it is a rarity to find someone who must work fulltime in order to fulfill their household's domestic needs. The reasons for this change are related to advances in technology, increases in scientific and professional activities and the shifting attitudes.

It is important to understand the history of domesticity because its history is thoroughly intertwined with the history of women. Women have often been put into the domestic sphere without voicing their opinion on the matter. Now women have an opportunity to choose for themselves whether they want to be involved in domesticity or not. Some women have chosen to remain in domestic arena and exercise power from there. Other women have criticized those who remain in domesticity as being weak and called domesticity a form of imprisonment, thereby rejecting domesticity. Some women have simply extended the borders of domesticity in ways, causing it to evolve from mere housewifery into a legitimate science. Whatever choice a woman makes, it is clearly important that she recognize her options.

Technology and Domesticity

Technology has a tremendous role in the way domesticity has changed in the last two centuries. There have been great advances in sciences that, through their application, have greatly reduced the amount of time and the extent of labor required for many domestic tasks.

Clothes Wringer (source: Roade House)

According to Encyclopedia Americana, near the end of the 19th century, home washing was done manually by using a water-filled wooden tub, a corrugated washboard, and a rubber-roller wringer to extract water. By 1937, according to Encyclopedia Americana, the first automatic washer was invented and this assuredly diminished the workload.

Sewing Machine - 1853(source: National Museum of American History)

Sewing had been a typical home activity for many centuries but it was not until Issac Singer invented the first practical sewing machine in 1853 that sewing began to take on a new role (Burman). Home sewing allowed women to save money, combat the declining quality of ready made clothes, and allowed women to express themselves artistically (Burman). Some would even say that home sewing could be a leisure activity or a form of relaxation (Burman). According to Encyclopedia Americana, the Singer Company marketed the first electric sewing machine for home use in 1889, but home electric machines did not become popular until the 1920's.

Dish-Washing Machine - Josephine Cochran (1886)(source: Gallery of Historic Patents)

In 1886, Josephine Cochran proclaims in disgust "If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself", which she did(Bellis). Cochran's machine was a hand-operated mechanical dishwasher much different from the electic ones that most people are accustomed to (Bellis). Cochran had expected the public to welcome the new invention, which she unveiled at the 1893, World's Fair, but only large businesses were interested (Bellis). It was not until the 1950s that dishwashers caught on with the general public (Bellis). The company she founded to produce her dishwasher eventually became KitchenAid(Bellis).

1873 - Middleton model 4 UK - This type of basic, cast, sad iron was still available in the 1930s. (source: Pressing Matters)

Before the availability of electricity, there were a number of alternatives for irons, however they were tricky to set up, cumbersome and dirty, which would seem to defeat the object of their use on freshly laundered clothes (Linnel). Electric irons were much faster in heating up and could therefore be used almost continuously, saving the user a lot of time (Linnel). Electric irons were also among the cheapest and most widely available of electrical appliances: in 1936, prices started from 6/6 (£0.38) (Linnel). They could also be used in any home that already had electric lighting (Linnel). It was rare for homes with electricity to have wall sockets outside the kitchen, so irons were usually plugged into light fitting adaptors, running a bulb simultaneously (Linnel). Electric irons were also instant in operation, requiring no preparation other than plugging in and, being totally independent from other heat sources, allowed the ironing to be done in any room of the house (Linnel).

Domestic Professions, Occupations, and Sciences

One major changes in domesticity over the last few centuries is the occupations that are associated with it. Originally domesticity mostly referred to cooking and cleaning, though that aspect still remains, it has also expanded and evolved to include more professional and scientific occupations. This evolution started with the idea of home economics, a Progressive discipline that sought to modernize domestic ideas. The next stage of evolution occurred when home economics went through a scientific revolution to become human ecology. Though human ecology is similar to home economics it is much broader and of course employs the scientific method.

A perky mid-century housemaid (source: VictorianWeb.org)

From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I, domestic service was the single largest employer of women in England (Burnett 135). The large number of domestic servants was due the lack of opportunities available for unskilled women. Because of the lack skills and options, it comes as no surprise that domestic servants were often stigmatized and mistreated. Domestic service was enticing for several reasons, it hired people of young age (typically twelve), required no previous experience, it provided room and board, and most importantly it gave women an opportunity for women to learn the domestic skills that would be required when they entered into marriage (Burnett 137). As time went out, most Anglo-American women were able to leave the life of a domestic servant. Now it is quite rare for one to find an Anglo-American domestic servant, however, that is not to say that domestic service has disappeared. Domestic service still exist and it is still performed by unskilled women with no opportunities but now these women are no longer Anglo-America, instead they are usually immigrants possessing little knowledge of English.

Melvil Louis Kossuth Dewey

Home economics was created on September 19, 1899, near the beginning of the Progressive Era, in Lake Placid, New York by people like Ellen Swallow Richards, Maria Parloa, and Melvil Dewey, famous for his Dewey Decimal System (Matthews 145). Programs were most popular at agricultural colleges where programs were very basic, mostly consisting of reading lessons for farmers' wives. The founders of home economics envisioned it as a way for women to break into the scientific field, however, once women got into home economics it was very difficult for them to expand into anything else; they were pigeon-holed (Matthews 145).

Ellen Swallow Richards

By the 1960s, the name "home economics" often suggested gender stereotypes that many women were struggling to overcome (Cornell). To combat this many colleges began to change the names of their home economics departments to "human ecology". Ellen Swallow Richards, the first president of the American Home Economics Association, had considered the name "human ecology" back in 1909 but the name was vetoed by Melvin Dewey (Cornell). The shift from Home Economics to Human Ecology was more than just a name change. The original charter of Cornell's College of Home Economics stated its goals in a very ambiguous way, "...domestic sciences and art..." (Cornell). When the college changed to the College of Human Ecology, its goals became much more specific, "human development...consumer economics, family relationships, human nutrition, [and] household design..." (Cornell). Steven D. Clarke of the University of Texas Human Ecology department describes the difference between home economics and human ecology by saying, "although the elements of Human Ecology evolved from the programs encompassed by Home Economics and the two names fortuitously share the abbreviation HE, human ecology is much more far-reaching."

The Food Pyramid - A symbol of nutrition

Nutrition, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is merely the process of supplying nourishment. In the past this mean for women, that they provided nourishment by cooking. Now, however, nutrition has come to mean more than just providing nourishment, it now entails providing a healthy diet. Because of this nutrition is one of the main branches of science within human ecology. Women have usually be excluded from most of the scientific world, however, nutrition allowed women to both boost their domestic position and to enter the scientific arena (Kamminga 129). Since women were considered responsible for the nutritional needs of the family, it is not surprising that women were at the vanguard of nutritional science (Kamminga 129). Nutrition has its roots in the 1840s when Catherine Beecher in her Treatise on Domestic Economy advised women to learn all they could and then decide the best way to fee their families (Kamminga 130). By doing this, Beecher encouraged women to become educated, to think for themselves, rather than simple rote memorization of cooking books.

The discipline of human development and family science is the study of the family and the individual members of the family. It teaches skills that are useful for areas such as child care, community service, social service, education, medicine, business, communications and government.

Attitudes Toward Domesticity

This attitude would mostly be associated with Colonial America. Domesticity was just something that had to be done. Matthews describes this period as "essential and mundane" and with little glory for women possessing domestic prowess (Matthews 6). No one really had any time to argue over who was responsible for doing domestic chores because if they were not taken care of then the whole family would be endangered.

1873 - Catherine Beecher (source:The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center)

This attitude arrived in 1850 as domesticity became more elaborate and valuable, this gave the housewife new sources of self-esteem (Matthews 6).Women such as Catherine Beecher believed that domesticity was empowering. She believed the rightful role for women was as the leader of a household. Catherine Beecher has often been criticized for opposing women's suffrage but one must consider that if women control the people who vote then women's suffrage would be redundant. One term associated with this attitude is "the Cult of Domesticity". This belief, according the Online Dictionary of Sociological Sciences, says that family and individual life is most fulfilling when experienced in a private household where women are chief homemakers and caregivers and that women have moral and temperamental qualities that are best expressed in the personal and domestic sphere of life.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

The idea that domesticity was empowering was completely refuted in 1963 by Betty Friedan in her book, The Feminine Mystique. In here book, Friedan spoke of "the problem that has no name; basically saying that domesticity denied housewives their humanity and potential, a form of physical and mental abuse(McElroy). Friedan talks of the "delusions of the feminine mystique" and how a woman cannot find her identity in here husband or children (Friedan 339). In this view, a woman is being weak by living through others since developing a unique identity is considered difficult. The book helped to spark a cultural revolution and established in feminism the idea of housewifery as a disease rather than as a choice any healthy woman could make (McElroy).

1873 - Martha Stewart (source:MarthaStewart.com)

The current trend in domesticity is recreation. No longer is domesticity considered a burden, in fact, it is considered a retreat from the harsh outside world. To understand this trend, one must understand that domestic expectations for women have also changed. As women began to be recognized as individuals, marriage began to evolve into a partnership with men now taking on roles that were considered exclusively feminine (Plante 284). The change in marriage role is not the only thing that has caused domestic expectations to change. Since more married women are now working, the family can now has more money to spend (Plante 285). With this extra money, women can pay others to do domestic chores such as cleaning, child care and cooking (Plante 284). With the most essential tasks taken care of, women can now spend their free time doing more enjoyable, yet unnecessary, domestic tasks, or crafts as they are now called, such as basket weaving or candle making. It is somewhat ironic than the modern woman now regards some of the most dreaded tasks of the Colonial era as recreation. It is not known whether domesticity could be considered a true recreation or whether this simply a marketing tool created by people like Marth Stweart to get women to buy more magazines or cookbooks.

Conclusion

Women will seemingly always be associated with domesticity. Women, however, do not have to participate in domesticity. This situation has arisen due to the reforms by women who felt that domesticity was damaging. Though some women may feel that domesticity is a bad thing, not all women believe this. In fact, many women choose to participate in domestic tasks, whether full time or in conjunction with an outside career. The women who do pursue domesticity will also be thankful for the fact that the time and labor associated with many tasks has greatly decreased due to the increase in domestic technology. Some women who do pursue careers may, in actuality, be involved in areas that were simply extensions of domesticity. Whatever the case may be, domesticity is a constant and woman must educate themselves to its history or may find themselves trapped in it.