"a woman's work is never done" meaning in English

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Proverb

Etymology: From a traditional rhyming couplet, found in at least two forms: : Man works till set of sun, : Woman's work is never done. : From rise of morn to set of sun : Woman's work is never done. Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=a woman's work is never done}} a woman's work is never done, {{en-proverb|head=a woman's work is never done}} a woman's work is never done
  1. Housework, which is generally considered women's work, is never finished. Related terms: double day, it's a man's world, one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen
    Sense id: en-a_woman's_work_is_never_done-en-proverb-JCjvFt2Q Categories (other): English proverbs, English sentences Disambiguation of English proverbs: 82 18 Disambiguation of English sentences: 60 40
  2. Women generally work long and hard, especially as they often are responsible for housework and care roles in addition to paid work. Categories (topical): Sociology, Women
    Sense id: en-a_woman's_work_is_never_done-en-proverb-07y7binx Disambiguation of Sociology: 43 57 Disambiguation of Women: 44 56 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 63 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 25 75 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 40 60 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 35 65

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{
  "etymology_text": "From a traditional rhyming couplet, found in at least two forms:\n: Man works till set of sun,\n: Woman's work is never done.\n: From rise of morn to set of sun\n: Woman's work is never done.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "a woman's work is never done"
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      "expansion": "a woman's work is never done",
      "name": "head"
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    {
      "args": {
        "head": "a woman's work is never done"
      },
      "expansion": "a woman's work is never done",
      "name": "en-proverb"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "82 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "60 40",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English sentences",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Housework, which is generally considered women's work, is never finished."
      ],
      "id": "en-a_woman's_work_is_never_done-en-proverb-JCjvFt2Q",
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "85 15",
          "word": "double day"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "85 15",
          "word": "it's a man's world"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "85 15",
          "word": "one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "37 63",
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          "_dis": "25 75",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "40 60",
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        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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        {
          "_dis": "43 57",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sociology",
          "orig": "en:Sociology",
          "parents": [
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Women",
          "orig": "en:Women",
          "parents": [
            "Female",
            "Female people",
            "Feminism",
            "Gender",
            "People",
            "Ideologies",
            "Society",
            "Sociology",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Human",
            "Politics",
            "All topics",
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1878, Edward Payson Roe, chapter 1, in A Face Illumined",
          "text": "\"Six o'clock, and working still! […] They say a woman's work is never done,\" remarked Ik Stanton, dropping into the easiest chair in the studio, \"and for this reason, were there no other, your muse is evidently of the feminine persuasion.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 April 1, Charles E. Silberman, “A Proper Way to Live”, in New York Times, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "As Professor Myerhoff writes: \"The adage 'A woman's work is never done' calls attention to the continuity of woman's tasks on a daily basis.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 October 30, Antonia Zerbisias, “Feminomics: calculating the value of 'women's work'”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "According to the old maxim, a woman’s work is never done. It certainly never counts, a least not by the economic formulae that figure out the wealth of a nation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 August 7, Harriet Marsden, “Why should women do the hard, unpaid work after Brexit?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "They say a woman’s work is never done. If certain Brexiteers have their way, that might be truer than ever. […] [A] no-deal Brexit would mean a disastrous shortfall in care staff, which would force women out of the office and into unpaid social care roles, looking after elderly parents.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Women generally work long and hard, especially as they often are responsible for housework and care roles in addition to paid work."
      ],
      "id": "en-a_woman's_work_is_never_done-en-proverb-07y7binx"
    }
  ],
  "word": "a woman's work is never done"
}
{
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    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English proverbs",
    "English sentences",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "en:Sociology",
    "en:Women"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From a traditional rhyming couplet, found in at least two forms:\n: Man works till set of sun,\n: Woman's work is never done.\n: From rise of morn to set of sun\n: Woman's work is never done.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "a woman's work is never done"
      },
      "expansion": "a woman's work is never done",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "a woman's work is never done"
      },
      "expansion": "a woman's work is never done",
      "name": "en-proverb"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "double day"
    },
    {
      "word": "it's a man's world"
    },
    {
      "word": "one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Housework, which is generally considered women's work, is never finished."
      ]
    },
    {
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1878, Edward Payson Roe, chapter 1, in A Face Illumined",
          "text": "\"Six o'clock, and working still! […] They say a woman's work is never done,\" remarked Ik Stanton, dropping into the easiest chair in the studio, \"and for this reason, were there no other, your muse is evidently of the feminine persuasion.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 April 1, Charles E. Silberman, “A Proper Way to Live”, in New York Times, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "As Professor Myerhoff writes: \"The adage 'A woman's work is never done' calls attention to the continuity of woman's tasks on a daily basis.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 October 30, Antonia Zerbisias, “Feminomics: calculating the value of 'women's work'”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "According to the old maxim, a woman’s work is never done. It certainly never counts, a least not by the economic formulae that figure out the wealth of a nation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 August 7, Harriet Marsden, “Why should women do the hard, unpaid work after Brexit?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2019-07-07",
          "text": "They say a woman’s work is never done. If certain Brexiteers have their way, that might be truer than ever. […] [A] no-deal Brexit would mean a disastrous shortfall in care staff, which would force women out of the office and into unpaid social care roles, looking after elderly parents.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Women generally work long and hard, especially as they often are responsible for housework and care roles in addition to paid work."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "a woman's work is never done"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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