More Work For Mother (Ruth Schwartz Cowan)

Brilliant, foundational book about kitchen and household appliances. It was written in the 1970s by a woman, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, As the culmination of her research to prove that technological innovations had allowed women to enter the workforce by significantly reducing household labor.

As the title suggests, her findings entirely contradicted that original thesis and broke ground in the academic study of “home economics—” or women’s work. It is a really fascinating piece that caused me (and many, many others) to question so many assumptions about the benefits of inventions.