Vatican: The washing machine liberated women

[IndianaGreen]

Vatican: The washing machine liberated women

By Miranda Bryant

Sunday, 8 March 2009

As International Women’s Day is celebrated, the Vatican had a novel message for the women of the world: give thanks for the washing machine. This humble domestic appliance had done more for the women’s liberation movement than the contraceptive pill or working outside the home, said the the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano.

“In the 20th century, what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women?” questioned the article. “The debate is still open. Some say it was the pill, others the liberalisation of abortion, or being able to work outside the home. Others go even further: the washing machine.”

The article is entitled, “The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax”, taking its name from the Washy Talky, the Electrolux bilingual-talking washing-machine launched in India seven years ago, which would|remind the absent-minded housewife how to use the appliance.

The Catholic Church was never likely to laud the pill for its transformative power on women’s lives.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vatican-the-washing-machine-liberated-women-1640134.html

[lynnertic]

1. Ha! How fitting that I've spent the day doing laundry.

[Teaser]

2. There is truth to that...

as human society has invented ways to lessen the load imposed on forced laborers, it has freed those laborers up for other, perhaps more fulfilling tasks.

Your larger point is, of course, not in dispute.

[IndianaGreen]

3. The microwave is the great liberator, for both men and women

Although it was the pill that really freed women.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Ironically, the pill would also fall under that heading.

[JDPriestly]

9. I think of my grandmother. Sure, she had a primitive washing machine.

And she plucked her own chickens, kept a huge garden and canned the vegetables for the family. But she also bake bread and sewed and did all kinds of wonderful, creative things (including quilting and crocheting) that we no longer have much time for.

Not only did other inventions like refrigerators, running water and the pill free women a lot more than did washing machines, but all these inventions and improvements took some of the meaning and joy out of our lives. There was a trade-off. We live better in some respects but worse in others.

Before TV, for example, people enjoyed playing musical instruments and singing together. That was their entertainment -- making music themselves instead of just listening to I-Tunes.

We have gained, but we have also lost thanks to these inventions.

[anonymous171]

4. At least they tried.

*sigh*

[Chulanowa]

6. E for effort?

[pnwmom]

7. I had a 2 a.m. epiphany one dark night with my first baby, as I changed her diapers.

I suddenly realized how lucky I was to have a soft, clean smelling diaper-service diaper to put on her -- that I hadn't had to wash myself.

Much less wash without the benefit of an automatic washer or dryer. (It wasn't that long ago that urine-soaked diapers were just hung over the fire to dry . . . )

So I kind of understand the point they were trying to make.

[Why Syzygy]

8. Nah. It was polyester.

:rofl: Or maybe the vote.

[ZombieHorde]

10. But not as much as witch's covens. nt

[peace frog]

11. Frickin fabulous

A bunch of dried-up misogynist celibates declare what does or does not liberate women...riiiiight. I'll just stick that one right where the sun don't shine, boys. :eyes:

[Occam Bandage]

12. To an extent, it probably did.

It's kind of funny to watch them try and compare its effects to a host of things they abhor, such as the pill, abortion, or gender equality in the workplace, but I suppose that electric appliances probably did have a positive impact on women's liberation. I'm not sure why they'd single out the washing machine and then ignore the dishwasher, microwave, vacuum cleaner, etc., etc, though.

[HamdenRice]

13. It's true. That and the sewing machine according to a feminst history paper I read years ago

Just 100 years ago, most clothing that families wore was made by the woman of the house. 160 years ago not only was most clothing made by women, but it was made without a sewing machine.

Sewing, clothes washing (especially for dirty, hardworking farm families) and cooking took up 90% of a mother's 16 hour days.

The work schedule of a typical mother was almost impossible for us to fathom.

This paper in particular took a funny angle though. Back then a married woman was considered to be legally like a child and unable to sign contracts or own property in her own name.

You know who bore a lot of responsibility for legally liberating American women?

Guess again.

The Singer Sewing Machine Company played a very big role. They had men sell these very, very expensive (by the standards of the day) machines door to door on installment contracts -- machines that radically reduced a woman's sewing time -- but the contracts weren't enforceable because women had no legal contracting capacity. Singer lobbied state legislatures to give women the capacity to sign contracts behind their husbands backs -- but at first only the capacity to sign contracts to buy sewing machines!

[Lisa0825]

14. Now that is a fascinating tidbit! nt

[Boojatta]

15. All orphans in the world should be sent to Vatican City.

Provided that Vatican City has enough washing machines, being forced to take care of all the world's orphans won't interfere with the freedom of the people of Vatican City.

[struggle4progress]

16. The washing machine certainly eliminated "laundry day" -- that glorious day of

boiling water and rubbing soap on clothes and clothes on wash boards and then running the suckers through a wringer and hanging them up to dry

But it wasn't one single step: I remember seeing washing machines without spin cycles and with wringers in the early 1960's, and you really had to watch your finger when feeding the clothes, if the wringer were powered