HOME MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF TWO SELECTED GROUPS OF EMPLOYED WOMEN

Abstract

The study was completed to survey a variety of home management practices of two groups of employed women. A questionnaire was developed to identify task types, task completion frequencies, time use, sources of help, attitudes of husbands, relationships between selected characteristics and home practices shown, and problems and concerns of the homemakers. The sample included 50 participants from each of two employment groups in Baltimore County, Maryland: clerical workers of the District Court System and teachers of home economics programs. Data were collected through mailed questionnaires which were received from SO of the members of the identified sample. Data were tabulated and analyzed through electronic data processing methods to obtain frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Values of t, chi-square, and the Spearman rank order correlation coefficient were compared at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels. It was found that almost all of the tasks listed in the instrument were completed in the management of the home. It was found that for the selected areas of the home, a weekly cleaning rate was the most frequently reported. Food preparation tasks took the largest amount of time for both groups and the home economists spent significantly more time in this task area than did the clerical group. The mean amount of time used for the completion of the selected tasks was 22.3 hours for the total group and this total was very similar for both employment groups. Husbands, children, and other adults living in the home provided limited amounts of help in the completion of household tasks. The kinds of tasks completed by husbands and children were somewhat sex-role stereotyped. When totaling all task categories, it was found that the male children contributed more help than did female children. The amount of help received from domestic help was negligible. The average use of carry-out food and restaurants for dinner was about once every two weeks. The appliances used by the greatest amount of respondents were the washer, dryer, dishwasher, and iron. The attitudes of husbands toward helping as reported by the participants were predominantly that they did not mind helping with household work. The problem areas as identified by the respondents were time, energy, and organization with meal Planning and preparation for the evening meal cited as a particular problem area.