Final answer:
The system of domesticity, or the Cult of Domesticity, contributed to the separation of work and family by establishing distinct gender roles, where men worked in the public realm and women managed the private domain of the home. The correct option is C.
Step-by-step explanation:
The 'system of domesticity' refers to the Cult of Domesticity, which is an ideology that took shape in the early 1800s, defining separate roles for men and women. This system contributed to the separation of work and family by assigning distinct roles (option C), where men belonged to the public world of work and politics and women to the private domain of home and family.
Under this ideology, true women were centered exclusively in the domestic world, contributing to the gender roles and societal structure that underpinned American culture during that era, further separating the middle class from the working class.
Middle-class families during the period of increasing industrialization, urbanization, and immigration from 1820-1850 allowed for the first emergence of female wage laborers. The Cult of Domesticity upheld the division of sociocultural life into public and private spheres, resulting in a dual morality where the home, run by a morally upright and domestically-skilled wife and mother, was seen as a sanctuary from the corrupt outside world.