For those of you that live in a small, servantless house:

[sl8]

Plan of work for a small servantless house, mid 1930s. Illustration for The Housewife's Book (Daily Express, c 1935).

[Sanity Claws]

1. The drawings look older than the 1930s

The woman has a skirt that reaches to the ground. In the 1930s, skirts seemed to be below the knee to mid-calf. In two of the photos, the woman had sleeves puffed up at the shoulder, called leg-o-mutton. That was also a much earlier style.
I wonder whether the author did some old-fashioned copying and pasting from an earlier book.

[sl8]

7. Also, there's a distinct possibility that the caption is wrong.

Last edited Sun Sep 25, 2022, 08:35 AM - Edit history (1)

I got that bit of info from here:
https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M652814/Plan-of-work-for-a-small-servantless-house-mid-1930s

but haven't confirmed it. Of course, people on the internet often make up < gasp > plausible descriptions for images like this, so I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[localroger]

13. Also the boiler and living room fire

There is no indication of any kind of automation in the house. I'd say that puts it before 1910, more likely the 1890's.

[sl8]

16. When did vacuum cleaners become common in the UK?

Last edited Sun Sep 25, 2022, 10:06 AM - Edit history (2)

Also, I'm pretty sure boilers were pretty common throughout the 20th century, probably even more so in the UK than the US. Still not uncommon today. Having to manually stoke them went by the wayside a while ago, though.

[wnylib]

29. British maybe. They lacked central heating for a long time.

Note the mention of preparing tea. Also, doing dishes after a meal is referred to as "washing up" by Brits, a term used a couple times in the OP.

[Chainfire]

27. Not likely too much older than the 30s because there is mention of a Water closet.

It was only in 1940 that half of American homes had indoor plumbing. I believe that the schedule was British, and it was after 1950 that half of GB had indoor plumbing. It was in my lifetime that the outhouse and slop jar disappeared.

My wife's family got indoor plumbing when she was four years old. (1958). Granted, they were not rolling in money... The foundation of the "outhouse" is still visible at the old homestead site. My father was a plumber, so we always had indoor plumbing. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, in this part of the country, outside privies were not at all uncommon, I have used one many times. In fact, neither was the back yard hand pump for water. In the outhouse, last year's Sears catalog did double duty when you were doing your "duty." For those who have never used one, outhouses aren't near as gross as a port-o-let.

If you like the convenience of indoor plumbing and potable water, thank a plumber. We protect the health of the nation.

[catbyte]

2. Well, that tears it. I'm going back to bed.

I'm exhausted just reading that. Yikes.

[True Blue American]

3. Women were liberated by 1929.

The 1920s wee liberating for women.

[Submariner]

4. But it's so much easier for the 2022 woman

For instance, when she does the Saturday special cleaning, while her husband is enjoying his day off golfing, she now has the Swiffer Duster Mop where dust clings to the mop, instead of wrapping an old T-shirt around a broom and just moving the dust around, like your mom did decades ago.

And, instead of standing over the stove doing the extra weekend cooking, today’s housewife has her choice of Slow Cookers or pressure cookers, giving the lady of the house a chance to catch up and clean the damn silver she didn’t do last Tuesday as she was supposed to do.

[dameatball]

5. So who feeds the cat? (Asking for a small friend)

[House of Roberts]

17. You don't qualify for the above example.

You don't live in a servantless house. You are your cats' servant. (Me too.) Most of my daily activity revolves around serving my cats and keeping them comfortable.

[niyad]

20. You are absolutely correct. I am servant to only one these days, but. . one

of my main duties is to be his bed/pillow as required.

[PatrickforB]

25. You know, there is a lot of truth in that. With 4 cats, I spend a lot of time 'in service' to them.

And I hate dusting.

But yeah, the housework is a drag, but it's got to be done. As a caregiver, most of it falls to me, as well as working full time.

Remember the old Beatles song, "Boy, you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight, carry that weight a long time!"

That is life, isn't it. Work, tears, pain, suffering, and death. This is fundamentally why I am a Democrat - the government really could enact policies, LIKE A NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, that would materially help us and our families and make life just a bit easier. Why, I've often asked the staffers I call for my US Senators and Representative, does it have to be so HARD?

I mean, think about Medicare. Why does applying for that have to be so HARD, and so disastrous if you get it wrong? Why do we have to pay taxes on our Social Security (when we finally are forced to take it because we cannot work anymore)? Social Security IS a tax, and we should not be taxed on the tax we've already paid.

And why do my kids and grandkids have to have all this student debt. Three of the four of them started off after college buried in debt. Why does it have to be that way?

And why are we allowing Wall Street to rule Main Street? Why does the Wall Street God of Shareholder Profits have to trump the interests of workers, consumers and the environment itself? Why have we allowed our greed to endanger the very habitability of this planet?

So yeah, there is always hope. But the Republicans over decades have made us into one of those shit hole countries that Trump lamented when he was in office. Trump, McConnell, McCarthy and others accelerated it, of course. But we were circling the drain since the first Red Scare in the 1950s and 1960s when Tricky Dick and another McCarthy imposed a reign of terror on the left in hopes they could kill the New Deal.

This republic has been a good experiment, and I hope with Dobbs that people crawl out of the woodwork to vote Democratic, but we have such a long way to go in improving the education of our kids so they can be engaged and informed citizens. Because it is our own ignorance as a people that is killing us.

[yellowdogintexas]

47. Servantless? Ha ha I have 4 cats. I AM the servant. nt

[Chainfire]

6. That looks fair to me.

She has an hour and a half free every day to watch soap operas. What more could a woman need?

[yardwork]

19. Unless she's attending to small children, if necessary.

I noticed that was just sort of tossed in there.

[Croney]

8. With time carved out at 4pm for tea, this sounds British.

That tradition did carry over in the U.S. until coffee took over.

[spooky3]

9. Reminds me of the old Neil Young song, "A Man Needs a Maid." Nt

[if..fish..had..wings]

10. Sex?

Doing drugs and binging Netflix?

Protesting the latest insanity?

Book club? (Wine orgy, actually)

The list seems incomplete...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

14. I like your agenda missy :) nt

[paleotn]

24. Oh, there were drugs....

per Mick and the Rolling Stones..

Mother's Little Helper

"Kids are different today, " I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of her mother's little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

[yellowdogintexas]

48. my sister says her "book club" is really just an excuse to get together and

drink wine.

[enough]

11. That is house is not servantless. It has a servant.

[niyad]

21. Indeed it does. An unpaid one!

[rubbersole]

12. What do (ugly) Heidi Cruz and Mrs. Lindsay Graham think...

...oh, wait...

[dchill]

15. OMG. I forgot to stoke the boiler!

Also HOW to stoke the boiler...

[Joinfortmill]

34. Lol

[ancianita]

18. Seriously. Women have been the very servants & foundation of capitalist-theo-fascist systems.

In that sense, no house has been without a slave -- unpaid servitude, forced or arranged, with no prospect of freedom from enabling others to gain wealth in the public arena.

Women have adapted or resigned themselves to this state -- but their state is in no way fair or amusing or mockable.

Bodily autonomy is the war women have defended against attack for millennia. Now those who depend on their free labor have created whole systems to groom and keep them there -- pseudo science, pseudo law, pseudo public social rules, disabling clothing, legalized rape.

[The Blue Flower]

22. Preach it!

Exactly this.

[niyad]

23. You are absolutely correct. Would you consider cross-posting this in

Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[ancianita]

26. You're always free to copy-paste and cross-post anything I post, niyad.

I'd prefer that the women there come over here and present what are really humanity's rights and issues, but it's just my preference, and totally up to them.

[niyad]

30. I appreciate that, but my pos computer does not allow me to link or copy

and paste.

[ancianita]

36. Then just feel free to have anyone else of the group be the designated copy-paster.

And fit the post into whatever threads they want.

The last time I did what you ask, I got no further input from you in those threads' conversations, and felt pretty much on my own in a self segregated group.

Seriously, it's my opinion that since women are half the planet, they should feel as safe airing Women's Rights & Issues as any other populations on DU.

So, since I'm hanging with the general population here, feel free to have anyone from WRI repost what you think helps.

[niyad]

43. I am so sorry that I made you feel abandoned there. It is most certainly not

ever my intention.

[ancianita]

46. You need not be sorry. Don't give it another thought. It was just my weird experience, is all.

I'm just trying to be practical about keeping women's issues in the general population, is all.

And though I understand women's need to be in a safer psychological and communications space there, I decided, from that experience, that I prefer to address women's issues in the more general forums' issues here because women's rights are human rights and a democratic underground should assume that and not segregate it.

Future human equality won't get real in a separate but equal environment.

Speaking of your pos computer, how about I make a contribution to your buying a better one? Seriously. There are lots of options for inexpensive, good used or new computers out there.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

28. I'm going to print this out for my girlfriend and let her know she's really been slacking

Sure, I'll let y'all know how that works out for me

[niyad]

31. Yes, after your recovery!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

35. Well, I think she'll be excited when I let her know she doesn't need to wear the ankle-length dress

While she's sweeping my patio every morning, or when preparing all my meals.

She can wear her French Maid outfit, in fact.

That should take some of the sting out of it. Assuage her, if you will.

[niyad]

37. Nope. You are on your own on this one. But I want video.

[ancianita]

38. shit's not funny, Hugh.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

40. Well, my girlfriend in fact would crack up if I did that

She's a PA-C with certs in 10 states, makes OVER double what I make, manages a team of 10 other PA's, has lobbied on Capitol Hill, and sat in First Lady Obama's box during the 2014 State of the Union.

She would instantly know I was messing around if I printed this out and told her 'here are your responsibilities'. We're both total smart-asses and always know when each other is joking in these sorts of situations.

So, yes, that shit would be quite funny.

[ancianita]

41. Then tell it to her. Shit's not funny or defensible here

particularly when our political opponents use the same 1A joking and 'exception' defense.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

42. Why aren't you complaining about the OP itself, ancianita?

The whole point (as I perceived it) is that, in today's world, it's laughable to expect this of women.

I just riffed on the OP, with obvious humorous intent.

Sorry if that offends your sensibilities. But then, it ain't the first time, and it sure won't be the last when it comes to you and I.

[ancianita]

45. I should. You're right. Except that it brings up an important point about the origin of

women's lack of equality and equal protection under the law in the social arena, which speaks to the core of home relationships.


You're free to insensitively riff. Our political opponents do it about women all the time.

My response isn't about offended sensitivities.
It's about current reality, which to you might feel is laughable in her context and your relationship; but to most women, and for half the country in general, it isn't laughable.

That women and their allies have to constantly beat back careless, soft prejudices, or a hard, legalized isms is the very crux of democracy. We are the underground here, are we not?

Perhaps DU's TOS allow that. But it doesn't help women or their allies. In the DU section where women feel they can be freer and safe from general jokey bigotry, they've pinned a note regarding DU's TOS. But the consideration they expect in this underground shouldn't have to be just their fight.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/11382050


If you're a true ally of Blacks, LGBTQ and women, you know that kind of jokey comment wouldn't be considered innocent or acceptable in those other contexts, and in the current context of this authoritarian state loss of women's equality of bodily autonomy, it isn't, either.

I wish you well, no hard feelings.

[Nay]

44. Your hospital stay could be lengthy. nt

[Elessar Zappa]

51. Have you chosen cremation or burial?

[Joinfortmill]

32. I'm exhausting just reading it.

[rainin]

33. No one in our house has the energy to do all this. We just have a lot of dust.

I vaguely remember having energy when we had small children, but this list would take me months to get done now. We're not even that old. sigh

[Ford_Prefect]

39. One significant difference from that period was that fires were used to heat much of the house.

The amount of dust produced by open fireplaces is quite significant, hence the emphasis on dusting every room in an endless cycle. Dust was indeed nearly everywhere.

Another significant difference from that period was that fires were often coal fed, which added to the need for continual cleaning. Central heating and air conditioning changed that as did household vacuum cleaners.

That doesn't change the load amount of domestic work loaded onto women in the family when domestic service was not available.

I can recall that when we were very young in the late 50's and early 60's my mother hired help to look after us and the house. This was Philadelphia in a modest middle class home with 4 children to manage.

When we were old enough my siblings and I did cleaning, laundry and some of the yardwork.

[LuckyCharms]

49. "Wash up tea things"

NOW you tell me.

[Angleae]

50. Apparently they didn't think children should have dinner in the 1930s