Mothers' Little Helpers Failing
The Age
Saturday October 18, 2003
Domestic appliances such as dishwashers, microwave ovens and deep-freezers are designed to save you time, right?
Perhaps not. New research shows these ``labour-saving" devices rarely reduce the time spent on housework. In fact, they can increase it.
The research, published this week by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, showed ownership of a clothes dryer actually increased the time people spent doing laundry, while microwaves, dishwashers and deep-freezers had no useful impact on the daily hours they spent on housework.
Why do modern devices allegedly designed to save time either fail to do so or actually add to their burden?
A possible explanation is that appliance-rich people have higher standards and use the appliances, not to do less, but to produce more or better meals and cleaner clothes.
In households that had a microwave, for example, women spent just as much time cooking as in households that lacked a microwave.
Even dishwashers, intuitively a ``labour-saver", had no effect either on the time women spent specifically on ``cleaning-up".
Paradoxically, men in households with dishwashers and deep freezers spent less time on housework than men who did not have these appliances.
Only ownership of a lawn mower or edge trimmer increased the time men devoted to one of their traditional male tasks - ``grounds care".
``As families become wealthier they give better and bigger dinner parties, they wash clothes more often, and they keep their large homes immaculately," said Dr Michael Bittman, a senior research fellow.
© 2003 The Age
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