More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave

Hacker, Sally L.; Cowan, Ruth Schwartz

doi:10.2307/3104353

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…The development and marketing of the washing machine was motivated by the promise to save time and labor. However, scholars have argued that with its introduction the amount of unpaid work in the home done by women actually rose dramatically [28], and that washing had become "a solitary affair between mother and the machine" [15]. Edwards and Grinter stress the relevance of such considerations for the discourse of UbiComp technologies, in that "the washing machine encourages a critical perspective on whether smart home technologies are 'labour saving' or whether they [...] merely shift the burden of work" [9: 265].…”

Section: Homekeeping Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing the laundry with agents

Costanza

Fischer

Colley

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. ABSTRACTFuture energy systems that rely on renewable energy may bring about a radical shift in how we use energy in our homes. We developed and prototyped a future scenario with highly variable, real-time electricity prices due to a grid that mainly relies on renewables. We designed and deployed an agent-based interactive system that enables users to effectively operate the washing machine in this scenario. The system is used to book timeslots of washing machine use so that the agent can help to minimize the cost of a wash by charging a battery at times when electricity is cheap. We carried out a deployment in 10 households in order to uncover the socio-technical challenges around integrating new technologies into everyday routines. The findings reveal tensions that arise when deploying a rationalistic system to manage contingently and socially organized domestic practices. We discuss the trade-offs between utility and convenience inherent in smart grid applications; and illustrate how certain design choices position applications along this spectrum.

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Section: Homekeeping Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing the laundry with agents

Costanza

Fischer

Colley

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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“…Feminist explorations of technological change in the home go back well into the late 1970s when feminist historians started to retrace the industrialisation of modern households in the West. They explored how new household appliances changed the nature of domestic labour and helped create the social character of the modern housewife, who, supported by tools, is able to face perform domestic duties on her own (Bose et al, 1984;Cowan, 1985;Thrall, 1982;Vanek, 1978). Feminist scholarship on the 'industrial revolution in the home' (Cowan, 1976) highlights that as they made housework physically easier, technologies such as vacuum cleaners, electric stoves, and washing machines also increased the standards of homemaking.…”

Section: Homementioning

confidence: 99%

Intimate technologies: Towards a feminist perspective on geographies of technoscience

Schurr

Marquardt

Militz³

2023

Progress in Human Geography

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Technologies are at the heart of geographic analysis. More-than-human geographies, actor-network theory, and new materialism have all called for attending to technological infrastructures and artefacts. This attention is directed mainly towards large-scale technologies. What often escapes geographies of technoscience are small, mundane, and unspectacular technologies. Bringing into conversation work from feminist technoscience and feminist geographies, we broaden the understanding of technology in geographies of technoscience by developing the concept of intimate technologies. By exploring three sites that lie at the centre of feminist technoscience – the home, the laboratory, and the clinic – we carve out the spatial politics of intimate technologies.

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“…Throughout her seminal work on industrialization's impact on American domestic life from the nineteenth century onwards, More Work for Mother, Cowan argues that female homemakers' duties consistently grew during this period. The increased availability of affordable, mass-produced domestic technologies contributed significantly to this outcome (Cowan, 1985).…”

Section: A Brief Critique Of Domestic Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Historical accounts of older domestic technologies, which will be drawn upon throughout this article, demonstrate that the processes outlined above are nothing new. Indeed, some scholars have convincingly argued that domestic technologies designed to reduce labour result in their users performing more housework overall while making it appear as though they are doing less (Strasser, 1982;Cowan, 1985). Domestic robots may represent the continuation of this trend.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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More work for Roomba? Domestic robots, housework and the production of privacy

Coggins¹

2022

PROM

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Housework is hard work. Keeping our homes clean, tidy and comfortable takes effort and every moment we spend on housework (that we would prefer to avoid) means we have less time to devote to our private lives. Over the past two decades, numerous companies have created robots designed to relieve their owners of housework. Having robots take care of housework for us, it seems, would enable us to focus our energy at home on private pursuits we find valuable, such as spending quality time with our loved ones, recreation, and relaxation. Although this line of reasoning helps explain why domestic robots are in high demand, this article will contest its validity throughout. By drawing from historical accounts of older, ostensibly labour-saving domestic technologies, it will argue that we should expect domestic robots to alter the nature of housework rather than reduce the need for it. Overall, it will argue that domestic robots change what needs to be done for their owners to enjoy their private lives.

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More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Doing the laundry with agents

Doing the laundry with agents

Intimate technologies: Towards a feminist perspective on geographies of technoscience

More work for Roomba? Domestic robots, housework and the production of privacy

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