Mechanical brides

the long version

"Mechanical Brides: Women and Machiens from Home to Office consider design history from the perspective of female users and consumers. The telephone, typewriter, washing machine, and electric iron have been central to the definition of 'women's work' in twentieth-century America. Cultural ideas about the duties and ambitions of women are reflected and reinforced by the ways appliances have been designed, marketed, used, and imagined. More than 40 illustrations in color and over 100 in black and white reveal the gender significance attached to seemingly neutral things"--Back cover.