The complex definitions of housework standards and routines described in the last chapter are not simply created as a response to the job situation; they antedate the time of ‘becoming a housewife’. Their roots lie in the lessons of childhood, when girls learn to equate their femaleness with domesticity and female identities are moulded round the housewife image.

The performance of the housewife role in adulthood is prefaced by a long period of apprenticeship. Housework is not unique in this respect: other occupations also have apprenticeship schemes. But a female's induction into the domestic role – unlike these other schemes – lacks a formal structure, and consequently is rarely seen as an occupational apprenticeship. A main reason for this is that preparation for housewifery is intermingled with socialization for the feminine gender role in the wider sense. Neither in theory nor in practice is one process distinguishable from the other.

While the female's childhood preparation for domesticity is ‘informal’, there are, nevertheless, regular procedures involved which span many of the differences between groups in our society and act as a common denominator in the socialization of women. The American sociologist Ruth Hartley, in her study of feminine role development, has identified four of these processes. They are ‘socialization by manipulation’, ‘verbal appellation’, ‘canalization’ and ‘activity exposure’. An example of the first process is a mother's tendency to ‘fuss’ over a female child's appearance and to stress her prettiness – ‘You are a pretty little girl’. The child takes over the mother's view of itself; verbal appellations reinforce the manipulative process. Canalization involves the direction of attention on to particular objects – in this case toys of the domestic kind: miniature washing machines, cookers, dustpan and brush sets, and so forth. (The world-famous toy department store in London, Hamleys of Regent Street, has a whole floor called ‘The Little Housewife’.) Children are often socially rewarded for playing with toys of the appropriate gender, and this process lays down the basis of future adult pleasure in relation to similar objects – full-size washing machines, cookers and dustpan and brush sets. Lastly, there is actual exposure to adult activities in childhood.