In the nineteenth century, household work–considered women’s work–was burdensome, inefficient, and stifling. In 1874, William Blackstone, a merchant and manufacturer of corn planters, from Bluffton, Indiana invented a washing machine for his wife. Within five years his invention became big business but it was the Industrial Revolution, which had succeeded in transforming the workplace that was the real impetus for transforming domestic work, the home itself and women’s roles through the introduction of household appliances, like the washing machines pictured below. Appliances helped liberate women from the isolation of the home, and it was believed these time-and-labor saving devices could provide women with greater access to the larger world.

Washing Machine Advertisements. 

However, household labor largely remains women’s work today. Look at the images from popular washing machine manufacturers’ websites. Click on the screenshots to visit the websites. What messages are being conveyed through the images? Do you think the “role of liberator” is still being used to sell appliances?

Posted: March 4th, 2008 under daily notes, multimedia in action.
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