What is the feminist view of housework in terms of pay and recognition?

• A. Housework is paid labour
• B. Housework is unpaid labour; if women ironed clothes, cooked and cleaned for others outside the family, they would be paid; in the family they are not
• C. Housework is decreasing
• D. Housework is the man's responsibility

Answer: (B)

Feminists emphasize that housework is unpaid labour that sustains society by reproducing the workforce, yet it is undervalued and not paid. The economic value of domestic tasks like ironing, cooking, and cleaning exists, but within the family these tasks aren’t compensated with wages. If women did the same work for others outside the family, it would be paid in the labour market, highlighting the gap in pay and recognition. This contrast between unpaid domestic work and paid work elsewhere is at the heart of the feminist critique of gender inequality in the home. The other statements don’t fit as well: housework is not treated as paid labour in feminist thinking, its decline isn’t the main point here, and assigning it to men doesn’t reflect the typical feminist analysis of the gendered division of unpaid domestic work.