Invisibility of Feminine Labor is the term used for the idea that women's work in the home is devalued in society. In other words, domestic labor is not as important or valuable as other types of paid labor. This creates a society in which women don't want to be associated with domestic labor, or would choose to not stay in the home/associate themselves with unpaid work.
Feminine labor is also rendered invisible because largely it is work that can never be completed (dishes are always made dirty again and thus can never fully be "done") and/or it is work that is only recognized when it is not completed (There's no milk in the fridge; but the fact that milk had been in the fridge for weeks, even months prior, always ready to be used is not acknowledge). In this way, the work is only recognized when it is incomplete, but not when it is finished. This constructs a system that devalues recognition of the housework actually completed, potentially even naturalizing it and making it an extension of a mother's or wife's love of her family. For example, when I walk into Grammy's house, everything feels so homey, all the cushions just so, and the smell of cookies wafting from the kitchen. What is ignored in these kinds of sentiments is the work that the woman must do to create that homey feel or cook the baked goods and so forth. It functions as a way to naturalize and render her labor and contributions to the home as invisible. This is a key component to exploiting feminine domestic labor. If it were visible, it would be far more difficult to exploit it.
Feminine labor is also rendered invisible because largely it is work that can never be completed (dishes are always made dirty again and thus can never fully be "done") and/or it is work that is only recognized when it is not completed (There's no milk in the fridge; but the fact that milk had been in the fridge for weeks, even months prior, always ready to be used is not acknowledge). In this way, the work is only recognized when it is incomplete, but not when it is finished. This constructs a system that devalues recognition of the housework actually completed, potentially even naturalizing it and making it an extension of a mother's or wife's love of her family. For example, when I walk into Grammy's house, everything feels so homey, all the cushions just so, and the smell of cookies wafting from the kitchen. What is ignored in these kinds of sentiments is the work that the woman must do to create that homey feel or cook the baked goods and so forth. It functions as a way to naturalize and render her labor and contributions to the home as invisible. This is a key component to exploiting feminine domestic labor. If it were visible, it would be far more difficult to exploit it.