How did the Industrial Revolution contribute to the changing relationship between middle-class husbands and wives?
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1 point
The shift from human to steam power in shops and factories left many middle-class husbands unemployed, homebound, and a burden to their wives.
By the late nineteenth century, most middle-class husbands went to a shop or office to work, thus reducing the prevalence of home-based production, which wives previously supported.
The employment of middle-class women in noisy, cramped textile factories required husbands to expand their home-based businesses.
As changing social values gave employed middle-class women greater prestige, middle-class husbands took on more household responsibilities.