GWD-18-Q3-Q6

    The idea that equipping homes 

   with electrical appliances and other

       “modern” household technologies

Line       would eliminate drudgery, save labor

  (5)      time, and increase leisure for women

who were full-time home workers

remained largely unchallenged until

the women’s movement of the 1970’s

spawned the groundbreaking and

 (10)      influential works of sociologist Joann

Vanek and historian Ruth Cowan.

Vanek analyzed 40 years of time-

use surveys conducted by home

economists to argue that electrical

 (15)      appliances and other modern house-

hold technologies reduced the effort

required to perform specific tasks,

but ownership of these appliances did

not correlate with less time spent on

 (20)      housework by full-time home workers.

       In fact, time spent by these workers

       remained remarkably constant―at

about 52 to 54 hours per week―from

the 1920’s to the 1960’s, a period

 (25)      of significant change in household

technology.  In surveying two

centuries of household technology

in the United States, Cowan argued

that the “industrialization” of the home

 (30)      often resulted in more work for full-time

home workers because the use of

such devices as coal stoves, water

       pumps, and vacuum cleaners tended

to reduce the workload of married-

 (35)     women’s helpers (husbands, sons,

daughters, and servants) while

promoting a more rigorous standard

of housework.  The full-time home

worker’s duties also shifted to include

 (40)      more household management, child

care, and the post-Second World War

phenomenon of being “Mom’s taxi.”

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Q3:

According to the passage, which of the following is true about the idea mentioned in line 1?

1. It has been undermined by data found in time-use surveys conducted by home economists.
2. It was based on a definition of housework that was explicitly rejected by Vanek and Cowan.
3. It is more valid for the time period studied by Cowan than for the time period studied by Vanek.
4. It is based on an underestimation of the time that married women spent on housework prior to the industrialization of the household.
5. It inaccurately suggested that new household technologies would reduce the effort required to perform housework.

The key is A

The key is A

But why choose A? the surveys conducted by home economists obviousely suppose the idea (marked in red)

the reduced effort results in the increased leisure time for full-time women.

Hope friends can explain for me..

but ownership of these appliances did

not correlate with less time spent on

 (20)      housework by full-time home workers.

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