At the same time, mechanized production was pouring out such an abundance of cheap consumer goods that the need for women’s work, even in the home, was eroding. People didn’t have to make a lot of stuff anymore; they could simply go out and buy it. Many middle-class women, idled by industrialism, found home life empty, even soul deadening. They wanted to get out of the house, even if it wasn’t to go to some job.
