The two charts provide information about the number of appliances owned by households and weekly housework hours from 1920 to 2019. The housework includes washing clothes, preparing meals, and cleaning.
In 1920, there were no refrigerators in households, whereas 30 and 40 percent of households owned vacuum cleaners and washing machines, respectively. By 1940, the number of refrigerators in households increased rapidly to over 50 percent and kept growing, peaking at 100 percent in 1980 and remaining constant until 2019. The number of vacuum cleaners similarly increased, reaching 100 percent in 2000 and holding steady for the next 19 years. The number of washing machines was more than the other two appliances at the beginning of this period. However, after the numbers went up in 1960 to 70 percent, the percentage of washing machines in households experienced a minor fall in 1980 and went back up again to over 70 percent by 2019. According to the second chart, the weekly hours spent on house chores dropped from 50 hours in 1920 to about 10 hours per week in 2019.
Overall, the data states that as the number of household appliances increased, the weekly hours people had to do housework decreased.