I don't think there's much comparison between the amount of work it took to keep house today versus 150 years ago. Remember, heating meant collecting, chopping, and carrying wood (or coal), cold water needed to be pumped and carried from a well, lake, or stream, hot water needed to be heated on a fire not just produced at a whim from a spigot, clothes were washed (and often made) by hand, as were dishes, animals needed to be slaughtered and dressed, food needed to be canned, salted, dried, or otherwise preserved, there were no vacuum cleaners, washing machines, blenders, microwave ovens, garbage disposals, or sewing machines. Horses and tack needed to be cared for, and travel using them was for more tedious and slow than travel by car. A trip to buy supplies was an all-day affair rather than a 15 minute jaunt to the grocery store. There were chimneys to be swept, sooty pots to be scrubbed. Garbage to be hauled more than to the curb in many places. Cooking was not just a matter of warming up a pre-prepared food item and serving it. And all of that extra cooking meant that there were all that many more dishes and utensils to be purchased, made, maintained, and washed.

I'm not saying that no men did any of that work, or that it was impossible to purchase any of these services commercially, or that it doesn't still take a fair bit of work to keep a household going, but before the mid 20th century running an ordinary household was far more all-consuming that it is today. I'm often amazed that anyone got anything at all done back in those days considering the amount of time required for all of these "overhead" activities.

--Brian