During the 1900's women's main purpose was to get married and look after her husband and children, they were treated as second class citizens with few rights. Women were burdened with heavy duty unpaid domestic work within the home. Life for women then consisted of backbreaking housework, without electricity and household aids. For working class women whose husbands were perhaps miners, cleaning was hard work, but essential as socially, women were judged on the cleanliness of their house as a sign of their respectability (early Calvinistic views). Constantly cleaning, washing, scrubbing, cooking, making and repairing clothes, tending to children and having to deal with the household finances, women endured intensive labour seven days a week - with washing itself taking a day and a half to do. It was taken for granted that housework was women's work and that is was natural for women to be at home in the early 20thC. Young girls were expected to

Today, the extent to which women has equality within the workplace is still argued. Women continue to occupy 'middling' positions and face 'the glass ceiling' with regards to promotion. Scotland's entrenched chauvinistic views still keep women from achieving.

A. No.No.No my father was very well looked after in the house, even

[1] TM Devine and RJ Finlay (ed's), Scotland in the 20th Century (1996) p.193

[7] A Dickson, J Treble (ed's), People and Society in Scotland, vol,3. 1998 p.98

Smaller family sizes, household aids, improvements in health and housing, changes in ownership and divorce laws all made a significant difference to Scottish women's lives within their domestic role. Today however, it seems women are still a far cry from equality within the home. A study was undertaken that showed British women averaged 16 hrs more than men in unpaid work within the home in 1983[6] showing the idealized 'new man' remains a myth. It can be argued it is socially unacceptable to be 'just' a housewife today and women are now expected to work, do the housework and look after the children, proving Scotland's engrained patriarchal views are still enslaving women.

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