The transformative effect of technological change on households and culture, seen from a macroeconomic perspective through simple economic models. In Evolving Households, Jeremy Greenwood argues that technological progress has had as significant an effect on households as it had on industry. Taking a macroeconomic perspective, Greenwood develops simple economic models to study such phenomena as the rise in married female labor force participation, changes in fertility rates, the decline in marriage, and increased longevity. These trends represent a dramatic transformation in everyday life, and they were made possible by advancements in technology. Greenwood also addresses how technological progress can cause social change. Greenwood shows, for example, how electricity and labor-saving appliances freed women from full-time household drudgery and enabled them to enter the labor market. He explains that fertility dropped when higher wages increased the opportunity cost of having children; he attributes the post–World War II baby boom to a combination of labor-saving household technology and advances in obstetrics and pediatrics. Marriage rates declined when single households became more economically feasible; people could be more discriminating in their choice of a mate. Technological progress also affects social and cultural norms. Innovation in contraception ushered in a sexual revolution. Labor-saving technological progress at home, together with mechanization in industry that led to an increase in the value of brain relative to brawn for jobs, fostered the advancement of women's rights in the workplace. Finally, Greenwood attributes increased longevity to advances in medical technology and rising living standards, and he examines healthcare spending, the development of new drugs, and the growing portion of life now spent in retirement.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK Tired, stressed, and in need of more help from your partner? Imagine running your household (and life!) in a new way... It started with the Sh*t I Do List. Tired of being the “shefault” parent responsible for all aspects of her busy household, Eve Rodsky counted up all the unpaid, invisible work she was doing for her family—and then sent that list to her husband, asking for things to change. His response was...underwhelming. Rodsky realized that simply identifying the issue of unequal labor on the home front wasn't enough: She needed a solution to this universal problem. Her sanity, identity, career, and marriage depended on it. The result is Fair Play: a time- and anxiety-saving system that offers couples a completely new way to divvy up domestic responsibilities. Rodsky interviewed more than five hundred men and women from all walks of life to figure out what the invisible work in a family actually entails and how to get it all done efficiently. With 4 easy-to-follow rules, 100 household tasks, and a series of conversation starters for you and your partner, Fair Play helps you prioritize what's important to your family and who should take the lead on every chore, from laundry to homework to dinner. “Winning” this game means rebalancing your home life, reigniting your relationship with your significant other, and reclaiming your Unicorn Space—the time to develop the skills and passions that keep you interested and interesting. Stop drowning in to-dos and lose some of that invisible workload that's pulling you down. Are you ready to try Fair Play? Let's deal you in.

Households headed by women are a growing presence worldwide. This is the first book to focus on their diversity and dynamics in developing countries. Set within the context of global trends and debates on female household headship, and using case-study material based on interviews with low-income women in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Philippines, the analysis explores the reasons for the formation and increase in women-headed households in different parts of the world, and their capacity for survival in societies where male-headed households are both the norm and ideal.

Tensions about men's and women's contribution to home life are often close to the surface in domestic relationships. As a result, when arguments erupt it is common for people to draw on culturally embedded stereotypes to explain or justify what men and women should or should not do. Even in much of the sociological, feminist and men's studies literature, it is implicitly assumed that home life remains a woman's domain. As a consequence there has not, until now, been a wide-ranging analysis of gendered domestic practices available to students that critically compares men's and women's expectations and experiences fully. This book considers women's and men's domestic practices in a wide range of household types including: heterosexual couple, gay and lesbian, single people, older people, economic and cultural migrant, and communal households. It also explores the whole range of domestic practices including paid work, housework, childcare, leisure, managing and spending money and caring. The author argues that traditional gendered power relationships in the home are changing as women bring more economic resource into households and men express more interest in the project of domestic life. In doing so, the book explores the complex process of negotiation and compromise that occurs in all types of households as men and women attempt to match their expectations of what home life should be like, with the reality of everyday life. This thought-provoking book is ideal for anyone interested in debates concerning family life, gender and relationships, including students of Sociology, Gender Studies and Related Social Sciences.

An updated edition of a standard in its field that remains relevant more than thirty years after its original publication. Over thirty years ago, sociologist and University of California, Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild set off a tidal wave of conversation and controversy with her bestselling book, The Second Shift. Hochschild's examination of life in dual-career housholds finds that, factoring in paid work, child care, and housework, working mothers put in one month of labor more than their spouses do every year. Updated for a workforce that is now half female, this edition cites a range of updated studies and statistics, with an afterword from Hochschild that addresses how far working mothers have come since the book's first publication, and how much farther we all still must go.