From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a woman named Josephine Cochran committed herself to making and selling her invention - the dishwasher. After her husband died, she was left in major debt, and it certainly did not help that her servants kept chipping her 200-year-old china. So, she invented the dishwasher to prevent more damage. When she showed her dishwasher at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, it became popular. Her company sold dishwashers to large kitchens all around the country. They changed the work force, replacing up to 75% of dishwashing staff with machines. Today, kitchens in the service industry, as well as private homes, feature Cochran's invention.
Thesis
By inventing the dishwasher, Josephine Cochran changed the efficiency,
hygiene, and work force in the service industry, at a time when it was not a woman’s
job to invent. Cochran not only defied the role she had as a woman by inventing, but on top of that, she started a company that is well known today.