The Atlantic
The Decline of Domestic Help
The absence of maids exploited, largely invisible workers who decades ago made keeping a house in order look much easier is one of the biggest reasons today’s middle-class families feel stretched for time.
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For centuries, a woman’s social status was clear-cut: Either she had a maid or she was one. Servants often live-ins who did the bulk of the cooking, laundry, and child care were an indispensable part of life for virtually everyone who wasn’t a domestic worker him- or herself.
Live-in maids, though, are now an anachronism their outfits are more often seen as Halloween costumes or part of sexual role-plays. The fact that servants used to be a fixture of domestic life and are now reserved for the wealthy is one of the key, but little discussed, reasons contemporary middle-class men and women feel overwhelmed by responsibilities. The receding presence of hired help has been accompanied by tremendous and long-overdue