Definition of Household Work Strategy
(noun) The division of labor among members of a household to complete work inside (e.g., childcare or laundry) and outside the home (e.g., wage labor) to provide goods and services necessary for its maintenance.
Etymology of Household Work Strategy
- Coined by Ray Pahl in Divisions of Labour (1984).
Household Work Strategy Audio Pronunciation
Syllabification: house·hold work strat·e·gy
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /hOUs-hohld wUHRk strAt-uh-jee/
- British English – /hOUs-hohld wUHRk strAt-i-jee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈhaʊsˌhoʊld wɜrk ˈstrætəʤi/
- British English – /ˈhaʊshəʊld wɜːk ˈstrætɪʤi/
Usage Notes
- Plural: household work strategies
- In a traditional view of a nuclear family in the United States, the man works outside the home to provide an income while maintaining the outside of the house. The woman is a stay-at-home mom and takes care of the inside of the residence. When children are old enough, the son helps with work outside and the daughter helps with housework.
- Tasks completed inside a household to maintain a residence are called housework.
- Household work strategies change over time as members grow older and leave or as economic conditions change.
- In contrast to household work strategy, domestic labor refers to labor completed inside the home.
- Household production refers to goods and services created by a household such as childcare, emotional support, and health care, that is then typically consumed by the household.
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “household” and “work” and “strategy” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- DINK
- domestic group
- domestic labor
- family
- head of household
- homework
- household
- marriage
- second shift
- segregated conjugal-role relationship
- symmetrical family
Cite the Definition of Household Work Strategy
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “household work strategy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 25, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/household-work-strategy/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
household work strategy. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/household-work-strategy/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “household work strategy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 25, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/household-work-strategy/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“household work strategy.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/household-work-strategy/>.