A non-electric washing machine is a great triumph for low-tech ingenuity

In much of the world, women tend to do more unpaid domestic work than men. a lot further. A 2025 Center for Global Development study reported that in 50 countries, “women spend an average of 29.92 hours per week on domestic work as their primary activity, while men spend only 9.78.”

While some men might shrug their shoulders and say, “Division of labor!”, few men choose to do such unpaid work.

This is due to the enormous opportunity cost that such dollar-less monotony inflicts. Reduced or no income means reduced or no pension security, educational opportunities (even for daughters who usually must help with domestic work), freedom to relocate (to escape poverty, discrimination, violence or other threats), leisure time and personal development, and overall quality of life.

While few social problems can be solved through technology alone, some tools (especially if they are reliable, easy to repair, available, and affordable) can certainly help reduce drudgery, thereby freeing up time to promote socioeconomic advancement and personal freedom.

Enter Navjot Sawhney, a trained aerospace engineer who worked for Dyson UK and inventor of the Divya washing machine. The company he founded, The Washing Machine Project, manufactures the device in India. It is an easy-to-repair, electricity-free, hand-cranked clothes washing drum aimed at people who have spent countless hours washing clothes by hand.

After moving from the UK to a small village in southern India, Sawhney was alarmed to see how her new neighbor Divya spent up to 20 hours a week washing clothes by hand. After he offered to buy her a power washer, she told him she didn’t have a reliable supply of electricity, access to a backup generator or even enough water to run that unit.

So, finally Sawhney came up with a solution.

With a capacity of up to 7 kg (15.4 lb) of clothes, its hand-cranked washing machine uses only 30 L (7.93 US gallons) of water and can be disassembled by the user with just two tools. According to the company, the analog device reduces labor time (compared to manual washing) by 75%, reduces water use by 50%, will work for at least five to ten years, and arrives partially assembled in a single box with easy-to-follow instructions. To honor the woman who inspired him, Sawhney named him Divya..

Because Divya does not require electricity, it is perfectly suited for impoverished, remote and/or disaster-affected regions where electrical service is unreliable or non-existent. Therefore, beyond the 105,000 people that the Washing Machine Project has already reached in Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Uganda and the United States, the company plans to reach one million users through development partners such as UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Oxfam and Plan International by 2030.

“In our humanitarian and partner-funded programs, the machine is provided free of charge to end users. We also work with organizations that purchase machines for their own programs,” Sawhney tells New Atlas. “There is no single retail price for households.”

To ensure its work meets genuine local needs, the Washing Machine Project says it has “conducted ethnographic research in 13 countries and interviewed more than 3,000 families in Uganda, Kenya, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Cameroon, Jamaica, Nepal, India and the Philippines to obtain information about [local] Laundry trends.”

While the Divya crank unit seems like a more efficient mechanism than a simple crank washing machine like the Drumi or Gira Dora, why not attach the Divya to something like a geared bicycle, since leg power could spin a larger drum?

“We wanted a power-free machine that was self-contained and portable, without the need for a separate bike or pedal box,” Sawhney says. “Simplicity, repairability and ease of use in homes and shared environments have guided the design. A pedal-powered community system is a different and interesting use case, but it is not the current Divya.”

That said, Sawhney has some ideas about future innovations for the device.

“Our immediate development work is making Divya more useful and maintainable, rather than announcing a standalone device,” he says. Such improvements include “a built-in scrubbing surface, a wider opening for bulky clothing, faster drainage and longer-lasting wheels. We are also developing local manufacturing, maintenance and shared access models in India so that the benefit lasts beyond the delivery of a machine.”

Source: The Washing Machine Project