Something to do with the fact that WASHING LINES (yes, they do exist)
tend to be outdoors so if you do happen to want to save the money (and
all that electricity)

So irons don't consume electric then? Well probably not in your house.
Your wife probably has a flat iron heated in the fire.

you have to lug the clothes downstairs at some
point in order to take them outside to dry, and (I'd contend) it is much
easier to do this while they are dry - before washing - than wet.
[snip]

This is why my wife does the ironing :-)
I much perfer the "feel" of wind-dried
clothes, and there aren't really *that* many (consecutive) days when
drying outside is completely impossible, even in the uk, though it does
help if there's someone at home during the day in order to take
advantage of dry spells.

Oh bog off back to the to the 19th Century.