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Glite Dictionary
women's work

women's work

4 3.4
Tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and child care seen as the job of women
  • noun
  • /ˈwɪmɪnz wɜrk/
translation icon : trabajo de mujeres
  • "Beadwork, full of color, proclaims another Africa, one of light, abstraction, and women's work."
  • attitudes toward women's work

Examples

  • In the present study, we explored attitudes toward women's work in general.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Evidence suggests that these issues will remain important in women's work lives.

    Academic text (1990)

  • - Well, a woman's work is never done.

    Wild Horse (1931)

  • A woman's work is never done.

    In Which We Serve (1942)

  • The day will soon come when you long for the safety and comfort of women's work.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Indigenous economies and women's work changed considerably under Spanish rule.

    Academic text (1999)

  • You know, the Hmong consider gardening to be women's work.

    Gran Torino (2008)

  • Instead, these scholars have concentrated on women's work within the more traditional humanitarian reform movements of the nineteenth century.

    Academic text (1990)

  • In Turkey, women's work in factories is divided both horizontally and vertically.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Cooking and cleaning are often seen as women's work in many cultures.

Synonyms

housekeeping
vswomen's work
61 1.8

Work that keeps a home clean and running, like cleaning and cooking

is similar but emphasizes these as duties of a particular gender
housework
vswomen's work
42 1.0

Regular cleaning and small tasks to keep a home tidy

is the same tasks but framed as gendered responsibilities
household chore
vswomen's work
8 1.2

A regular task at home like cleaning or cooking

is the broader idea of domestic duties tied to gender expectations
housewifery
vswomen's work
  • Archaic
8.8

Managing a home and doing daily tasks like cooking and cleaning

is about domestic duties traditionally expected of one gender

How Domestic

women's work
4 3.4
care
∞ 1.0
paid
1 1.0

Surface Forms

women's work singular
women's works plural

Morphology

women's + work

The phrase is compositionally built from 'women's' (possessive of women) + 'work' (tasks), so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer it denotes work associated with or done by women. While the socio-cultural stereotype component (that certain domestic tasks are 'traditionally' women's responsibility) may require world-knowledge, the basic referential meaning is directly derivable and cross-linguistically paralleled, so it is transparent.

Etymology

Women's work comes from old family life, where everyday jobs like cooking, cleaning and caring for children were done by women and called their work. That's why the phrase now means 'tasks seen as the responsibility of women'.