Electrical Appliance Ownership and Housework Time

The line graphs illustrate the evolving patterns of household electrical appliance ownership and the corresponding time dedicated to housework in Suggested change: households in a single countryhouseholds in a single country1homes in a country from 1920 to 2019.

In general, there was a noticeable surge in the ownership of various electrical appliances throughout the period, which directly correlates with a dramatic reduction in the average number of hours spent on household chores.

In 1920, Suggested change: none of the listed appliances was widely owned; onlynone of the listed appliances was widely owned; only2none of the listed appliances was widely owned - only 30% of households owned vacuum cleaners and 40% washing machines. However, ownership began to rise steadily Suggested change: from 1920 onwardsfrom 1920 onwards3from 1930 onwards, with refrigerators and vacuum cleaners experiencing the most significant growth. By 1960, approximately 90% of households possessed a refrigerator, a figure that reached virtually 100% by 1980. Similarly, vacuum cleaner ownership soared from about 30% in 1920 to over 90% by 1980, achieving near-universal penetration by 2019. The washing machine also saw a substantial increase, Suggested change: reaching 70% ownership by 1960 and ending at roughly 75% in 2019reaching 70% ownership by 1960 and ending at roughly 75% in 20194reaching around 70% ownership by 1970.

Suggested change: At the same time,At the same time,7Concomitantly, the average weekly hours spent on housework witnessed a steep decline. Starting at a considerable 50 hours per week in 1920, this figure plummeted to Suggested change: approximately 20 hours by 1960approximately 20 hours by 19608approximately 30 hours by 1960. The downward trend continued, with housework hours stabilising at 10 hours per week by 2019, Suggested change: DeleteDelete9reflecting the increasing automation of domestic tasks.