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Looks like we've got a new contender for what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women in the 20th century. The Vatican said it was the washing machine; Bonnie countered with the pill. According to a new study, it was more basic than either of those: running water. Emanuela Cardia, an economics professor at the University of Montreal, used census data to study the effect of modern appliances and modern plumbing on women's foray into the workplace in the 20th century. She found that, more than electricity or refrigeration, it was the spread of indoor plumbing that was tied to women entering clerical and sales jobs. Cardia points to previous studies that found that more advanced innovations like the washing machine addressed chores that already may have been the job of hired laborers so had less of a direct impact than running water on the amount of time the woman of the house spent on housework.
In explaining her methods, Cardia writes, "The simplest model of home production assumes that ... men always work and women have one unit of time which they split among market work, housework and leisure." It may be the simplest, but as Emily wrote yesterday, there are a lot of more complicated models being forged now, as laid-off men navigate their new role in the home. I'll bet some of them are feeling pretty liberated by the washing machine these days, too.
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Really, Abby? The clothes washer? Hmmmpf. I can understand why the Vatican might eliminate my nominee from the running for, er, political reasons, but, as lovely as it was to toss the washboard in exchange for an automatic top-loading agitator, it's pretty obvious oral contraception did far, far, more for women's liberation than the washing machine. Birth control pills revolutionized women's sex lives. In a contest for "what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women," laundry doesn't even come close.
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