[kendallpark]

Yup. Back in the day, women in traditional housewife roles were major contributors to their household finances [1]. They used their own unpaid labor to transform raw materials into goods that saved their family from having to purchase them on the market. They also performed services that would have been prohibitive to hire out. But thanks to mass production and household appliances, household production doesn't contribute as much to household finances as it once did. 1950's suburbia was that awkward transition period before middle class families realized that they could have dual incomes--it was never going to last.

[1] https://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/80599...