Electric ranges were used in naval and commercial ships before being introduced to the domestic market. Microwave ovens are a direct descendant of military radar technology and were developed for food preparation in submarines by the US Navy. They were first introduced to airlines, institutions, and commercial premises before manufacturers turned their eyes to the domestic realm.
Despite the lucrative market that it represents, the household is not usually the first area of application that is considered when new technologies are being developed. For this reason, domestic appliances are not always appropriate to the household work that they are supposed to perform. Nor are they necessarily the implements that would have been developed if the main user had been considered first or, indeed, if she had had control of the processes of innovation.
It is no accident that most domestic technology originates from the commercial sector, nor that much of the equipment that ends up in the home is somewhat inefectual. As an industrial designer I interviewed put it, “Why invest heavily in the design of domestic technology when there is no measure of productivity for housework as there is for industrial work?” Commercial kitchens, for example, are simple and functional in design, much less cluttered with complicated gadgets and elaborate fittings than most home kitchens. Reliability is at a premium for commercial purchasers, who are concerned to minimize their running costs both in terms of breakdowns and labor time. Given that labor in the home is unpaid, the same economic considerations do not operate. Therefore, when producing for the home market, manufacturers concentrated on cutting the costs of manufacturing techniques to enable them to sell reasonably cheap products. Much of the design efort is put into making appliances look attractive or impressively high-tech in the showroom—for example, giving them an ornamental array of buttons and flashing lights. Far from being designed to accomplish a specific task, some appliances are designed expressly for sale as moderately priced gifts from husband to wife and in fact are rarely used.
Let us look in more detail at the microwave, as it is widely regarded as an iconic time-saving device. As we have just noted, microwave ovens were initially developed for use in submarines. When manufacturers first turned their eyes to the domestic market, they conceived of the microwave as a device to reheat prepared food for use by men, especially single men. As a result, microwaves were marketed as “brown goods” and sold next to hi-fi equipment, televisions, and video recorders—goods for leisure and entertainment. Even their color signified a gendered conception of household functions and consequently a gendered conception of potential purchasers. As it transpired, this attempt to frame demand was unsuccessful and subsequently the product was reconstituted as a simple and serviceable “white good” for use by housewives to cook.
Doing Domestic Time
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