Women's work

Women's work is a field of labour assumed to be solely the realm of women and associated with specific stereotypical jobs considered as uniquely feminine or domestic duties throughout history. It is most commonly used in reference to the unpaid labor typically performed by that of a mother or wife to upkeep the home and children.

Women's work is generally unpaid or paid less than "men's work" and is not as highly valued as "men's work". Much of women's work is not included in official statistics on labour, making much of the work that women typically do virtually invisible. For example, throughout much of the 20th century, the women working on a family farm, no matter how much work they did, would be counted in, for example, the US census as being unemployed, whereas the men doing the same or even less work were counted as being employed as farmers. Similarly, many acts of creativity, such as tapestry, quilting, sewing, and weaving, which are often performed by women, have been traditionally undervalued by the mainstream art world, classified as women's work and thus, until recently, rarely included in art exhibitions, galleries or museums.

There are several types of work that are considered women's work; they involve child care, housework, and occupations such as nursing that have been dominated by women in recent decades.

The term "women's work" may indicate a role with children as defined by nature in that only women are biologically capable of performing them: pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It may also refer to professions that involve these functions: midwife and wet nurse. "Women's work" may also refer to roles in raising children, particularly within the home: diaper changing and related hygiene, toilet training, bathing, clothing, feeding, monitoring, and education with regard to personal care.

Women's work may also refer to professions that include childcare such as governess, nanny, day care worker, au pair, or professional positions such as teacher (especially teaching children) and nurse.

"Women's work" may also refer to roles related to housekeeping, such as cooking, sewing, ironing, and cleaning. It may also refer to professions that include these functions, such as maid and cook. Though much of "women's work" is indoors, some is outdoors, such as fetching water, grocery shopping or food foraging, and gardening.

Until the Industrial Revolution, society was primarily agrarian and women were just as involved in working on farms as men.

A proverbial couplet runs: "Man may work from sun to sun, But woman's work is never done".