So what has changed?

A selection of domestic appliances (2004)

Vacuum cleaner (1949)

Changing social and political ideas meant more and more women entered the jobs market in the 1950s and 1960s. But there are only 24 hours in a day, and what happens if nine of ten of those are spent doing housework? It wasn’t fair for women to spend all day working in a factory or office and then all evening working indoors.

Plenty of men do their fair share of the cooking and cleaning these days, but it’s often still mums who do the lion’s share of the housework. Luckily, the practical advantages of modern technology make a huge difference to the amount of time needed to do housework.

Machines now do many of the back-breaking and time consuming jobs (jobs that take a long time) like sweeping and washing.