Is it natural?

[ostap77]

"In the early years of the 20th century,the popular notion of normal life was that of man doing the productive work,while woman was an ornamental consumer."

1)Why is it "doing the productive work" not "doing productive work"? Would it mean men were doing all productive work?
2)"...while woman was..." Would there need to be the definite or indefinite article " while a/the woman was..."? Could I change it to "women were...an ...."?
3) Is it OK with "the populat notion...."? Could I say " a popular notion....."?

[5jj]

"In the early years of the 20th century, the popular notion of normal life was that of the man doing the productive work, while the woman was an ornamental consumer."

That's how I'd put it.
P
lease leave a space after a comma.

[ostap77]

You've always been a lot of help. Could it have been written by a non-native speaker in terms of grammar hiccups?