In the era after Suffrage, white middle-class housewives abandoned moves toward paid work for themselves, embraced domestic life, and felt entitled to servants. In "Domesticity and Dirt", Phyllis Palmer examines the cultural norms that led such women to take on the ornamental and emotional elements of the job while relegating the hard physical work and demeaning service tasks to servants mainly women of color. Using novels, films, magazine articles, home economics texts, and government-funded domestic training course ...
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In the era after Suffrage, white middle-class housewives abandoned moves toward paid work for themselves, embraced domestic life, and felt entitled to servants. In "Domesticity and Dirt", Phyllis Palmer examines the cultural norms that led such women to take on the ornamental and emotional elements of the job while relegating the hard physical work and demeaning service tasks to servants mainly women of color. Using novels, films, magazine articles, home economics texts, and government-funded domestic training course manuals, the author details cultural expectations about middle-class homelife. Palmer describes how government-funded education programs encouraged the divisions of labor and identity and undercut domestic workers' organized efforts during the 1930s to win inclusion in New Deal programs regulating labor conditions. Aided by less powerful black civil rights groups, without the assistance of trade unions or women's clubs, domestics failed to win legal protections and the legal authority and self-respect these brought to covered workers. The author also reveals how middle- class women responded ambivalently to the call to aid women workers when labor reforms threatened their domestic arrangements. Throughout her study, Palmer questions why white middle-class women looked to new technology and domestic help to deal with cultural demands upon 'the perfect housewife' rather than expecting their husbands to help. When the supply of servants declined during the 1950s, middle-class housewives were left isolated with lots of housework. Although they rapidly followed their servants into paid work outside the home, they remain responsible for housework and child care. Author note: Phyllis Palmer is Associate Professor of Women's Studies and American Studies at The George Washington University.
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Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $22.50, very good condition, Sold by Dorley House Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hagerstown, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Temple University Press.
Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $26.95, very good condition, Sold by Fleur Fine Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Port Neches, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Temple University Press,U.S..
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Used; Very Good. Used; Very Good. 31-F-21 Temple University Press 1989 Hardcover. Text is clean and unmarked. Jacket has light wear. Book Condition; Very Good Jacket Condition; Very Good. 1989. HARDCOVER.
Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $40.15, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Temple University Press.
Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $56.29, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Temple Univ Pr.
Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $109.41, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Temple Univ Pr.
Add this copy of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants to cart. $122.53, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Temple University Press.
