Washers, dryers, vacuum cleaners, and other large and small appliances were marketed mainly to the middle classes, who had previously hired people to perform the drudgery of housework. These appliances allowed families to fire the maid, the gardener, and the laundry service, but they also threw most of the work into the lap of the mother. Women who had spent most of their days looking after their children were suddenly forced to spend hours every day doing housework instead.

Working class families (who couldn’t afford the luxury of maids or laundry services and whose time really could have been saved by these appliances) usually didn’t have the money to afford them. It was only after the Second World War in North America that the average working-class or poor family could afford such luxuries, and to women from those families appliances like washers, dryers, electric irons, and electric ovens really did save time.

At this point in time, though, the only people buying these appliances were buying them to replace the maid, not to help the housewife.