Laundry day used to actually mean an entire day of soaking clothes, heating water, hauling, scrubbing, rinsing, wringing and hanging. Imagine when the first washing machine appeared on the scene in the 1920s. It’s likely women everywhere watched the tumbling drum like a movie, maybe even doing something shocking for women of that day…….read a book. To the women of that generation, a washing machine wasn’t just a washing machine, it was a time machine. It created time — time to learn, earn, rest and parent. Today, around 85% of American households own a washing machine. It’s not just the washing machine that has made our lives easier. The revolution of dishwashers and microwaves have cut the burden of housework from something in the neighborhood of 60 hours a week in the early 1900s to around 28 hours by 1970 and under 20 hours by 2005. Because it’s women who did — and still do — most of the housework, the appliance transformation represents a big improvement in women’s lives. It may be difficult for us to recognize that now, after decades of growing used to these magic machines, but people at the time understood the connection.
