A little over 100 years ago women were only 20% of the labor force. [1] Which is to say, most women did not participate in wage employment.
Now they're ~47%. Which is great! But it also hints that society doesn't need most of the labor for the system to still function.
Rather like subsistence farming, everyone got out of housework as soon as possible and into a far less onerous office.
if I could retire, raise my kids and homeschool them, and do housework instead I would in a second. Nothing is more interesting, more fulfilling, and more challenging then raising the next generation.
Housework isn’t as onerous now as it was 100 years ago, though.
"Work" does not exclusively mean "work full time for a wage".
yeah but carrying and raising kids?