 Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this universal human need are of interest to several branches of scholarship.Laundry work has traditionally been highly gendered, with the responsibility in most cultures falling to women (known as laundresses or washerwomen).The Industrial Revolution gradually led to mechanised solutions to laundry work, notably the washing machine and later the tumble dryer.