IT'S a lovely life that the glamorous American housewife leads as she goes about her daily tasks in a leisurely manner, her perm lacquered to perfection, her lipstick and mascara touching up a lustrous complexion and her smartly-fitting costume unruffled by effort.
Languidly she brings the breakfast orange juice from the deep-freeze, prepares bacon, eggs, toast and coffee in electric appliances, disposes of garbage in a grinder-flusher and whisks the dishes into an automatic washer-dryer.
She watches television or enjoys the radio while another automatic washer-dryer does the laundry. Then she effortlessly runs the clean clothes through an electric ironer. Chores like dusting are negligible, for the air-conditioner filters out dirt as the air is drawn in from outside.
Modernistic equipment makes lunch and dinner as simple as breakfast and unhurried. Mrs. America has leisurely hours for morning visits, afternoon bridge and cocktails and pleasant evening diversions.
Yep, it's a luxurious push-button life when it's portrayed like this in rainbow splendour by Hollywood movies.
BUT it's got nothing to do with life as the real Mrs. America knows it.
The hard-working average American housewife, often harassed by duties and money problems, would never recognise herself in the fanciful film versions of her career.
For the truth is that she's a very busy person who dons a cotton house dress, runs a comb quickly through her hair, defers the use of lipstick and mascara, and spends 70 hours a week, or more, in the job of mother and homemaker.
CAN'T AFFORD GADGETS
She has some modern appliances that make life easier, but she still knows what an ironing board is. She's too busy getting meals and doing the dishes the old-fashioned way to watch much daytime television or go gadding in the afternoons. By the time she's put in 10 hours or more at household routine she's ready for bed rather than a night club.
The labour-saving gadget household does exist in the United States, but we are considering here the average housewife and she simply can't afford such things.
Like the average woman in any other country, she's far from wealthy as is demonstrated by an exhaustive survey made by the General Electric Company. This disclosed that 50,000,000 families in America include 10,000,000 wives who hold jobs.
Working wives and full-time wives usually have a refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, electric iron, automatic toaster, electric food mixer, waffle iron and sewing machine to lighten their household tasks. Both types do about the same amount of work around the house, but the working wives do it at different times.
Prepared frozen foods from salads to meats and desserts and tinned foods of all kinds are plentiful, but the American housewife still spends 28 1/2 hours weekly at kitchen tasks-preparing meals, washing and drying dishes, removing garbage and cleaning up. She even bakes cakes, pies and often bread despite the profusion of bakeries.
Practically all the average housewives' laundry is done at home and there the automatic washer reduces labour. But few women have electric dryers and automatic ironers, so the backyard clothes line and the electric iron and ironing board make the same old demands. Laundry time is reckoned at nine hours weekly.
Household chores are never finished, which may be why they require at least 10 hours a week.
The survey disclosed that the American housewife most dislikes, in order, washing floors and dusting furniture; cleaning windows; waxing floors, and cleaning Venetian blinds.
All these jobs are the big time-consumers. Added hours are spent in caring for the children, sewing, personal care, and organised communal activities.
And when day is done, how does this busy woman feel? Here are the percentage figures:
