OTOH, it also means children will likely return to being economic contributors to their households, rather than economic burdens from 0-18, which does balance things a bit. Yes, you have kids. But kids are valuable. It'll also likely mean a return to multigenerational households with more than one adult woman-- so the work is often shared between wife/mom, grandma, and any unmarried young women and spinster aunties. Plus, it's traditionally expected that elders will be financially and materially supported by their children. The kids are the retirement plan, insofar as there are such things-- even the old folks contribute to the household, they just don't do the heavy lifting.
This was an eye-opening thing I observed while traveling in the developing world and staying in the homes of farmers and laborers. Yes, the women did the household work. But it was totally unlike the work we do in our own homes today in the industrial west: all the work was *social* work. All the women of the household did the work together, so it went very fast and was cheery. It was never, ever a young mom stuck at home all day with just little kids to look after, losing her mind trying to keep the house clean by herself while the kids dump 8 million legos on the floor. That's not a thing. Little kids, when not nursing, can be foisted off on any girlchild older than about 8 so that the women can get real work done. And there are very few toys. The women have a whole host of little cottage industries going on, often *with other women*. The women run the marketplace-- they are the ones running 98% of the little stalls and shops, they are the butchers and poultry-sellers and fishmongers and vegetable dealers. The husband goes out on the fishing boats, or farms the squid, or leases the fields and grows crops-- and more often than not the wife is the one who handles the cash transactions involved in selling what he grows/catches. For the most part, the work they do isn't lonely, isolating drudgery, which is what everybody hates about housework these days. There's nothing social possible about using a washer and dryer. Not so when we all gather round the tubs and scrub clothes together. Vacuum cleaners? Can't even hear yourself think, much less converse. But when everyone grabs her whisk broom and sweeps the house at the start of the day... that's when the day gets planned.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-07-11 01:09 am (UTC)This was an eye-opening thing I observed while traveling in the developing world and staying in the homes of farmers and laborers. Yes, the women did the household work. But it was totally unlike the work we do in our own homes today in the industrial west: all the work was *social* work. All the women of the household did the work together, so it went very fast and was cheery. It was never, ever a young mom stuck at home all day with just little kids to look after, losing her mind trying to keep the house clean by herself while the kids dump 8 million legos on the floor. That's not a thing. Little kids, when not nursing, can be foisted off on any girlchild older than about 8 so that the women can get real work done. And there are very few toys. The women have a whole host of little cottage industries going on, often *with other women*. The women run the marketplace-- they are the ones running 98% of the little stalls and shops, they are the butchers and poultry-sellers and fishmongers and vegetable dealers. The husband goes out on the fishing boats, or farms the squid, or leases the fields and grows crops-- and more often than not the wife is the one who handles the cash transactions involved in selling what he grows/catches. For the most part, the work they do isn't lonely, isolating drudgery, which is what everybody hates about housework these days. There's nothing social possible about using a washer and dryer. Not so when we all gather round the tubs and scrub clothes together. Vacuum cleaners? Can't even hear yourself think, much less converse. But when everyone grabs her whisk broom and sweeps the house at the start of the day... that's when the day gets planned.