One of the questions I'd like to discuss is from the story My Mother Never Worked. The question it poses is if the story is still relevant even tho it was first published in 1975? In my personal opinion the story is still undoubtedly relevant. The tasks of a house wife today might not be as labor intensive as it was in yesteryears, but is every bit as strenuous, never ending, and might even include tasks that would not have been left up to women of the time. In the story the mothers every day routine included caring for her children, as well as tending to livestock and overseeing a half acre garden.
The mother from the story keep her children clothed by painstakingly mending, hemming, and sewing cloths for each of her eight offspring. A house wife of todays standards possibly does the same thing, but only as a hobby. More often than not she just takes her kids shopping probably leading to arguments because the cloths are too expensive or what have you. According to the story the mother feed and cared for livestock and presided over a half acre garden. In todays automated world much of that is replaced by supermarkets, but it doesn't necessarily completely simplify things. A house wife still has to fight traffic to get there and then deal with the task of buying food for the families' personalized tastes. The later in itself can be a perplexing burden.
House wifes of the past where often burdened with labor of back breaking proportions. Today's house wife probably doesn't endeavor as much, but does take on a multitude of new tasks. One of those tasks is being a personal secretary of her children's daily routine. I see mothers ushering their kids to school, sporting events, music lessons, and just about any other activity you can throw out. Mothers work harder than most secretaries at corporate offices to make sure their kids are where they need to be when they need to be. A lot of times house wifes are now in charge of the financial situations of the household. They are regularly managing checkbooks, paying off credit cards, bills, and accountable for making investments.
So really, the house wifes of times long past absolutely physically worked harder, but present house wifes still have their work cut out for them. Even though their work doesn't necessarily relate their hardships could obviously be felt by one another. I will have to say that this story still relates in probably more was than I could ever describe.