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.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3:
According to the passage, which of the following is true about the idea mentioned in line 1?
- It has been undermined by data found in time-use surveys conducted by home economists.
- It was based on a definition of housework that was explicitly rejected by Vanek and Cowan.
- It is more valid for the time period studied by Cowan than for the time period studied by Vanek.
- It is based on an underestimation of the time that married women spent on housework prior to the industrialization of the household.
- It inaccurately suggested that new household technologies would reduce the effort required to perform housework.
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..
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.. | 
