Everything a housewife does, she does for her family. A housewife works 7 days per week with no fixed hours, cleaning, cooking, tidying and taking care of children. This, however, is not considered a job and it is not compensated with money, paid leave or holidays. Household work is mainly based on altruism, that is to say that the chores are done willingly even if it doesn't benefit the person who is doing it, namely, the housewife. Housewives do these chores to show their love for their family. Unlike the average everyday worker who can quit his/her job, should a housewife refuses to do household chores, it would seem as if she is refusing her love to her family. .

             It has been found that full time housewives spend more time on housework than women with paid employment not just on weekdays but on weekends as well. (Working Life, 1990) Housewives do not hold "proper jobs" and as such feel the pressure to spend long hours at housework. This is because it is the efforts and not the results by which they expect to be judged. The work of a housewife is endless. There will always be more food to cook and more mess to clean and often, the housewife tries to engage the help of her family. However, the energy spent trying to get her children to contribute to housework by far exceeds the energy she spends doing the work herself. Thus she finally gives up and does all the housework by herself. This is possibly because more than wanting to spread the physical load, she is merely trying to teach her children not to take her for granted. As for her husband, he may well agree that housework is to be shared, but often, somehow there is always a reason for him not to do it. How often have we heard housewives complain about excuses given by their husbands such as these: -.

             "I don't mind sharing the housework, but I don't do it very well and we should all do the things we're best at."; .

             "I hate it more than you, you don't mind it so much"; and .