Both are working. One is getting money that they get to decide what to do with, the other (the wife) doesn't get paid but gets room and board but very little autonomy - for example, they were expected to deliver sexual gratification on demand, mood or no.
It's honestly surprising to me how people seem to still not be aware of the amount of labor women at home do, especially in previous eras. Read any old book, you'll find wives cooking every single meal solo for every single person in the household, managing every aspect of the kids' lives, functioning as a secretary for the husband, cleaning the entire house, often doing the yardwork, managing the social calendar, all while keeping up appearances so they're an attractive wife. They worked way more hours than their husbands.
This a caricature. Women were women back then.