Women Have Always Done Society’s Heavy Lifting — Literally

Although we’ve long ignored their back-breaking labour, and, unfortunately, still do today

‘Repasseuses’ (Two Ironing Women) by Edgar Degas, c. 1884. Image via Artchive. Before the invention of electric irons, ironing was intense, physically demanding work overwhelmingly done by women. In 19th-century Paris, around 25% of the female workforce did it.

Once upon a time, a woman’s greatest struggle was mustering the energy to rise from her cosy sofa and whip up a hearty meal before her husband returned from a long day spent tirelessly building the world we live in now.

Well, no — not really. That fantasy might be role-played today by women advocating for a return to ‘traditional’ gender norms and ‘soft, feminine lives’ — often while building decidedly less ‘trad-like’ brands and businesses around the lifestyle — but it’s about as historically accurate as the idea that cave dwellers spent their downtime making Instagram Reels.

But even those with less extreme views tend to embrace a version of this narrative: that men, through centuries of strenuous toil, laid the foundations for the society we now enjoy, and we should all be glad for their sacrifices. Where would we, meek female creatures, even be without them? Exactly. Nowhere in particular. This belief that men built the entire world on their backs is also a close relative of the claim that women are ‘the weaker sex.’ After all, both women’s supposed (and inherent) uselessness and helplessness have long been used to justify their secondary…