Can't live without it...

Find out which innovations have changed women’s lives for the better
Chat date: Friday 28th July
Chat time: 3pm
Web Chat

If you could invent anything to make your life easier and save you precious seconds during a busy day, what would it be?

A Star Trek style ‘transporter’, so you never again have to brave the rush hour traffic? Or a razor that never left you with nicks and cuts on your ankles or legs?

Always Freshelle questioned over 1400 women to find out about their ‘must-have’ and ‘wish list’ products, some interesting facts were revealed.

For a start, two out of five of us would jump at the chance to have a self-cleaning toilet whilst a self-operating vacuum cleaner comes in at a close second.

You’d have thought unladderable tights would be top of the list, but one in ten of us would prefer to have a Clueless-style machine that picks out the perfect outfit for us every morning. Who can blame them? Time saved would surely add up to another 10 minutes in bed!

The list of ‘can’t live without it’ inventions was topped by modern sanitary protection followed by the underwired bra and ceramic hair straighteners, which are now regarded as absolutely integral to women’s daily life! The Always Freshelle survey also revealed which modern innovations have most benefited women and enhanced our quality of life. Almost half of us decreed the contraceptive pill as the most innovative scientific development for women in recent years. This is unsurprising as the Pill is often regarded as a powerful symbol of female emancipation. There is a clear trend linking all the products women find indispensable – from hair straighteners to modern sanitary protection – they are innovations, which have all helped to liberate women.

Join our columnist Emma Gold in the webchats.tv studio on Friday 28th July at 3pm to find out which innovations have made the most difference to women’s lives

Emma Gold wrote the hugely popular weekly Sexploits column in the Independent on Sunday. The author of two Sex & The City-style novels, Emma is currently writing features for GQ, Cosmopolitan, the Independent, the Independent on Sunday's Life section and Scarlet Magazine. She has written for the Mirror, the Sunday Times and The Evening Standard, as well as Maxim and Junior magazine. Emma also works as psychotherapist and has recently been appointed as part of Company magazine's team of experts, dispensing advice to readers.