These line graphs illustrate the changes in the ownership of three electrical appliances and the amount of time spent on housework in each household per week in one country between 1920 and 2019.
Overall, the amount of households with electrical appliances increased in different ways, while the time used on housework showed a rapid decrease. In 1920, at the start of this line graph, washing machines were the most owned appliance, refrigerators were second with 30 percent, vacuum cleaners came last with 0. When looking at each electrical appliance, the refrigerator had an obvious increase between 1920 to 1960, reaching approximately 100 percent by 1980s and after from almost none ownership. Compared to this, the other two appliances seemed to become common over a longer time, which resulted in a rise in the percentage of ownership in both appliances. Ownership in all three appliances became much more popular by 1960 – washing machines had around 60 to 70 percent as well as vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators reaching approximately 90 – leading to relatively steady moves after this point, meaning for around 60 years till 2019.
At the same time, the average time spent on housework per week fell from 50 hours per week to less than 20 hours per week by 1960, eventually declining to 10 hours or less. From these findings, there appears to be a significant link between the ownership of household appliances and hours spent on housework.