Yeah. A lot of the work women now do, used to be volunteer work, things they did for their families and neighbors, or was done by convents or other charities.
Everything got credentialized and professionalized, to inflate the cost, so that the government could skim taxes and state insurance payments off the top.
Mens' work tended to be stuff they did for strangers, so it was done in trade, which eventually led to payment with money.
For instance, if I clean my own house, and nurse the sick and elderly inside of it, and teach my children their 3Rs, and cook my own dinner, none of that is done in trade, so the value stays within the household. If I clean someone else's house, I get paid for it and the government takes 42% of the value. So, the person I clean for has to pay me that 42% more, to make it worthwhile for me to clean their house, rather than my own. In addition to the loss of value I have because I'm out of the house and can't perform my other duties, during this time. This inflates the cost of living. We pay more for everything, when strangers do it.
If my husband builds one electric gadget or dining room table, for his house, that's nice for us. If he builds another one, for the neighbor, in exchange for getting his car repaired, even nicer. But if he builds 5000 identical tables and sells them to people all over the planet, they will pay him in cash, and that money can then be used to purchase other goods and services that are highly specialized or that require unusual equipment or rare supplies, and therefore can't be efficiently produced in each household.
I appreciate this analysis :)
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