Editing Lillian Moller Gilbreth (section)

=== Domestic management and home economics ===

Gilbreth collaborated with her husband until his death in 1924.<ref name="Held2010" /> Afterwards, she continued to research, write, and teach, in addition to consulting with businesses and manufacturers. She also participated in professional organizations such as the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] until her own death nearly fifty years later in 1972.{{sfnp|Kass-Simon|Farnes|1990|pp=157–59, 161, 163}} In addition, Gilbreth turned her attention to the home, despite her aversion to housework and the fact that she had long employed full-time household help. Her children once described her kitchen as a "model of inefficiency."<ref name=Graham1999 />

Due to discrimination within the engineering community, Gilbreth shifted her efforts toward research projects in the female-friendly arena of domestic management and home economics.<ref name=Graham1999 /> She applied the principles of scientific management to household tasks and "sought to provide women with shorter, simpler, and easier ways of doing housework to enable them to seek paid employment outside the home."<ref>{{cite book|last=De Léon|first=Michael A.|title=Handbook of American Women's History|date=2000|publisher=Sage Publications|location=Thousand Oaks, California|isbn=0-7619-1635-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric00howa/page/220 220]|edition=Second|editor=Angela M. Howard and Frances M. Kavenik|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric00howa/page/220}}</ref> The Gilbreth children often took part in the experiments.<ref name=Kitchen>{{Cite news |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2012/10/lillian_gilbreth_s_kitchen_practical_how_it_reinvented_the_modern_kitchen.html |title=The Woman Who Invented the Kitchen|last=Lange|first=Alexandra|date=October 25, 2012|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref>

In addition, Gilbreth was instrumental in the development of the modern kitchen, creating the "work triangle" and linear-kitchen layouts that are often used today.<ref name=Kitchen/> In the late 1920s, she collaborated with [[Mary E. Dillon]], president of Brooklyn Borough Gas Company on the creation of an efficient kitchen, equipped with gas-powered appliances and named the ''Kitchen Practical''. Inspired by Dillon's criticisms of her own kitchen, it was designed on three principles: the correct and uniform height of working surfaces; a circular work place; and a general "circular routing of working", all carefully analyzed to reduce the time and effort required in the preparation of meals.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 3|url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_3a.html|website=www2.theiet.org|access-date=May 26, 2020}}</ref> It was unveiled in 1929 at a Women's Exposition.<ref name="Kitchen" />

She is also credited with the invention of the foot-pedal trash can, adding shelves to the inside of refrigerator doors (including the butter tray and egg keeper), and wall-light switches, all now standard.<ref name="Graham1999" /> Gilbreth filed numerous patents for her designs, including one to improve the electric can opener and another for a wastewater hose for washing machines. When Gilbreth was an industrial engineer working at [[General Electric]], she "interviewed over 4,000 women to design the proper height for stoves, sinks, and other kitchen fixtures as she worked on improving kitchen designs".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.asme.org/career-education/articles/management-professional-practice/lillian-moller-gilbreth|title=The American Society of Mechanical Engineers|last=Giges|first=Nancy|date=May 2012|website=Lillian Moller Gilbreth|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref>

After [[World War I]], the Gilbreths did pioneering work with the rehabilitation of war-veteran amputees.{{sfnp|Weber|1997|p=42}} Lillian continued consulting with businesses and manufacturers after Frank's death. Her clients included [[Johnson & Johnson]] and [[Macy's]], among others.{{sfnp|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=132}} Lillian spent three years at Macy's to find solutions to their sales and human resource issues.  Solutions included changing light fixtures to reduce eye fatigue and eliminating duplicate recordings of sales checks.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Madame Curie Complex|last=Des Jardins|first=Julie|publisher=The Feminist Press|year=2010|isbn=978-1-55861-613-4|location=New York City|pages=78–79}}</ref>

In 1926, when Johnson & Johnson hired her as a consultant to do marketing research on [[sanitary napkins]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Report of Gilbreth, Inc.: The perfect menstrual pad, January 1, 1927|url=http://www.mum.org/gilbret1.htm|publisher=Museum of Menstruation|access-date=April 16, 2011 }}</ref> Gilbreth and the firm benefited in three ways. First, Johnson & Johnson could use her training as a psychologist in the measurement and analysis of attitudes and opinions. Second, it could give her experience as an engineer specializing in the interaction between bodies and material objects. Third, her public image as a mother and a modern career woman could help the firm build consumer trust in its products.{{sfnp|Graham|1998|p=218}} In addition to her work with Johnson & Johnson, Gilbreth was instrumental in the design of a desk in cooperation with [[IBM]]  for display at the [[1933 World's Fair|Chicago World's Fair]] in 1933<ref>"Planned Motion in the Home," ''The Gilbreth Management Desk'' pamphlet, N-File, Gilbreth Collection at Purdue University, as cited in {{harvtxt|Graham|1998|p=188}}</ref>