Machine-washed vs hand-washed

Shall recount a conversation I had with Yaw (Phillip's third son) a while ago which set me thinking. It was about the lack of washing machine in Ghana. I remarked to him that while Ghanaians have laptops, fridges etc it is rather odd that they do not have washing machine. To me technological progress comes as a package and I was surprised to find it not so here. He's reply was that they prefer to wash by hands which I take to mean that they are used to washing by hand and see no reason to change. I thought that wasn't a very good reason and said that perhaps it's because washing machine are expensive and it consumes unnecessary water and electricity. He agreed and added that washing by hands is cleaner (which I disagree) and the clothes last longer. I left it as that. A similiar conversation took place when I was at the conference in Takarodi. The reply I got was that God gave people hands to use it. At which point I replied that why then are you using a laptop and not a pen? God gave people brains to use it too. As a economic student, I look at it from a economic perspective. Most women here are housewife and the marginal cost of washing to them would probably be the time spent. But time here is cheap generally and especially so for housewife. Why do I say so? Unemployment here is generally high. Most people here are self-employed (i.e. you will see many small stalls by the side of the road selling similiar products like drinks or snacks). So time is theirs to use as they wished. Also, whenever I go to the Obuasi's Municipal Office, most of the workers there are doing nothing but reading newspapers. On the other hand, the marginal return from hand washing is the savings made from having to purchase a washing machine and the extra electricity and water cost which would be substantial by local income levels. So what would change the equation to tilt it in favour of washing machine? When time is no longer cheap. That would require economic progress and Ghana certainly has the conditions and natural resources to achieve that. So who wants to bet against washing machine becoming the norm here in the future?