The picture often painted of Irish women, who were not in the paid workforce in the first four decades of independence, was one of narrow, optionless lives, ceaseless drudgery, and severe subordination. This study blends official records and personal testimonies of all kinds from these years, to show us that this was not necessarily so. Focusing on the kind of women who would not as a rule have employed household help, lower-middle and working class/medium to small farming women- this study shows that the setting, the nature and also the meaning of household work changed gradually from one decade to the next. Pregnancy, childbirth and infant care are looked at as are food preparation, washing and other inescapable realities of the lives of most women of the house. Running a house was a highly skilled job, which often conferred status on those doing it. It is argued that those who wrote or spoke in public about or on behalf of these women did not always understand these workers' lived experience, while government attitudes and initiatives were opportunistic and ad hoc, more often ignoring rather than idealising these women and their wo.