@sickburnbro Peasant women worked hard. My grandma was working the gardens until the year she died. This wasn't even necessary. We could all afford the groceries ourselves. She did it anyway.

My mom told me she had to spend most of the school breaks as a child helping in the harvest. They were not even farmers and didn't own land, just the house with a garden. They were helping the local farmers out for money. Both of my Grandmothers also had factory jobs.

The idle housewife is a middle class+ luxury. Some work, maybe only part time, was needed for everyone below that.