‘Elbow grease and yellow soap’: Housework time in working‐class households in late‐nineteenth and early twentieth‐century Britain

Journal article

Housework is central to feminist calls for recognition of women's work, economic histories explaining the sexual division of labour, and claims regarding the progressive role of scientific knowledge. Yet little is known about the time it actually took. We address this lacuna. We utilize British sources and find a substantial increase in the hours ordinary women spent on domestic labour between the late‐eighteenth and the mid‐twentieth centuries. We note the changing imperatives of state involvement and industrial development and explore how the additional domestic labour served the interests of state and employers as well as those of husbands and children.

Authors: Horrell, S; Humphries, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: The Economic History Review
• Article number: ehr.70119
• Publication date: 2026-05-15
• Acceptance date: 2026-04-02
• DOI: 10.1111/ehr.70119
• EISSN: 1468-0289
• ISSN: 0013-0117
• Language: English
• Keywords: Twentieth‐century Britain; Family welfare; Nineteenth‐century Britain; Housework; Domestic labour