Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-20
Works About as Many Hours
as Her Husband, Study
Shows.
BUREAU SEEKS TO FIND
MONEY VALUE OF LABOR
Life of City Dweller Is Little Easier
Than That of Woman on the
Farm, It Is Indicated.

Inc american housewife still has a
full-time job. Despite can openers,
readymade clothing, bakers bread,
model kitchens, nursery schools, wash
ing machines and all the other contri-
buttons of modern science to domestic
economy, she still has approximately as
many working hours as her husband.
This is shown in study now under
way by the Bureau of Home Economics
OF the Department of Agriculture under
the direction of Miss Hildegarde Knee
land. chief of the economics section.
Typical groups of housewives on farms
and in villages and cities were studied
The statistics are made up from the
daily records of 1000 homemakers as
to how they spent their time for seven
days OF typical week. The work now
is being extended to find out the money
value OF the housewives time.
Inc average working time of all the
women studied, Miss Kneeland reports
was slightly over 81 hours. More than
nall spent over 48 hours, and one-third
mostly in the country. more than ST
hours. The figures include onlv actual
working time, and even some of this is
excluded where work Is combined with
recreation, as when the mother is out
OF doors with her children.
Ine figures show that the life of the
CITY housewife is very little easier. so
lar as working hours in the home are
concerned, than that of the women in
tne country or small village. The aver
age iS@
women In towns of from $500 to so 000
Is 81 hours week, while for the large
cities the average remained slightlv
above the 48-hour standard which has
peen nxed for union workers. ONLY 10
per cent OF the city women spent less
tnan 80 hours per week, and the study
was conducted among women of
signify superior economic group.
Inc farm records, based on the ex-
perlence OF $50 women, were made tn
include only the time actually spent in
nouSework or home MANAGEMENT. But
Wnen all work was included the figure
ran up above So hours week, or more
IMAM nine hours day. Much of this
extra work, such as caring for poultry
ana mix and gardening. falls naturally
to the lot Of farm women.
Little Variation.
One of the most surprising results Of
the study, Miss KneeIand reports. is
the showing that there is little varia-
non according to section of the coun-
Iry There is about the same distri-
eution OF time among the various
household tasks.
In care of members of the family
and In management, the survey shows.
city homemakers spent more than twice
as much time as women on the farm.
They spent an average of about six
hours a week on these tasks, which
were taken almost entirely from pre-
parng and clearing away meals. For
cleaning, laundering, mending and sew
ing tner ngures were almost identical
with those OF the rural women, as fol-
lows; cleaning, 7i2 hours a week:
laundering. Sig hours; mending, IL
hours. and sewing, Az hours. In pre-
pairing meals the city woman spent
only 10l2 hours a week. compared with
l5l2 on the farm. She spent only As
minutes day clearing off the table
ana dlswaShing. compared to more
IMAM an hour, a day average in rural
households.
Inc conclusion seems inevitable. Miss
kneeland says. that the time spent bv
married women in housekeeping must
be reduced to reasonable full-time lob
for those now overworked and to
lelSure-tlme job for others who are bet
ter adapted to some other line of work
but are unable to follow their natural
DENTS because of their heavy home
duties. She points out three possible
solutfons-increased use Of hired help,
great efficiency in household tasks and
more use OF large-scale outside agencies,
such as laundries.
Paid Manager Seen.
Miss Kneeland sees as a future DOS
sibility the paid household manager
who takes over the running of several
MONIES. giving only part of her highly
paid time to each home and directing
less skilled workers who perform the
routine work. Would not this solve the
problem of the homemaker with a full
time. fairly well paid outside lob who
cannot afford full-time skilled house.
keeper and yet has not time herself for
the odds and ends which cannot be left
to the unskilled employer"
Little more is to be expected, she saws,
from efficiency methods in the home.
for they demand uniform conditions of
work which are hard to obtain in prac-
tlce. Besides. she points out, the tasks
are too many. too varied and too fire.
quently changing. Something is to be
gained, she points out. from new labor
saving devices, but insists that these
will never cut down the work the full
extent necessary
The major reduction in the house
keepers hours, she insists, probably will
come from the increasing use of outside
agencies, such as laundries. bakers, COM
mercial housekeeping services, etc, for
the household work. After presenting
the bureaus statistics of the overworked
Miss Kneeland urges the ne
cessity of each individual making time
schedule so that the necessary work can