Women, Work, and Leisure. The emergence of the modern dichotomy between leisure and work during the nineteenth century had deep consequences for women of all classes, especially those of the middle class. Domesticity was not defined as productive labor. Working-class women sometimes of necessity did "work" for wages, but running errands, cleaning house, or raising children was not considered work. For middle-class women, managing of the household and supervising the rearing of the children fell outside the classification of "work," while the vital social obligations fulfilled by bourgeois women—such as the time-consuming activities of letter writing or paying and receiving social visits—were considered "leisure." In fact, the middle-class woman's so-called leisure activities had a major influence not only on her family's social status but also on her husband's success or failure in the business world. During...