Domestic Labor

Domestic Labor Definition

Domestic labor is an alternative name for housework and child care. Sociologists use the term deliberately, to signal that such work is a social construction rather than some natural phenomenon.

Historical Emergence

Sociologists have argued that domestic labor in its modern form emerged with the Industrial Revolution, when surplus wealth allowed households to keep the female head at home, engaged in running the house, rather than contributing directly to the household economy as women had done previously. What appears a timeless female role is thus historically specific, a product of industrial society’s separation of home from workplace.