The provided line charts compare the percentage of households utilizing three different electrical appliances – washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners – with the average number of hours spent on housework per week per household between 1920 and 2019.
Overall, there was a clear inverse relationship between the two metrics: as the adoption of household appliances increased over the century, the amount of time dedicated to domestic chores steadily declined. Additionally, while refrigerator and vacuum cleaner ownership eventually reached total market saturation (100%), washing machine ownership experienced minor fluctuations and remained the lowest of the three by the end of the period.
Looking at the appliances, refrigerator ownership experienced the most dramatic growth. Starting at zero in 1920, it surged to 100% by 1980 and remained ubiquitous for the remainder of the period. Similarly, the presence of vacuum cleaners grew steadily from 30% in 1920, eventually plateauing at a peak of 100% in 2000. In contrast, washing machines were the most common appliance initially, owned by 40% of households in 1920. However, after reaching 70% in 1960, their usage saw a slight dip to 65% in 1980 before recovering to roughly 75% by 2019, making them the least utilized of the three tools by the end of the timeframe.
Turning to the impact on domestic labor, the rise in appliance ownership coincided with a significant reduction in weekly housework. In 1920, households spent a substantial 50 hours per week on chores. This figure plummeted over the next forty years, dropping to 20 hours by 1960 – the exact period when appliance adoption was rising most rapidly. From 1960 onwards, the decline continued at a more gradual pace, ultimately reaching just over 10 hours per week in 2019.