Few boys help in home

Press, 25 August 1982, Page 13

Few boys help in home

PA Dunedin Most boys have never used a washing machine and many have never helped prepare a meal, said a professor of education at the University of Otdgo. Addressing a conference-of home science teachers in Dunedin, Education Professor Barbara Calvert outlined results of a national survey she directed on home economics subjects and sex roles. About 73 per cent of

Dunedin boys had never washed clothes in a washing machine, compared with 24 per cent of the girls. And 30V per cent of the boys com-' pared with 9 per cent of the girls had never helped make a meal. * More girls than boys took home economics subjects. -One boy-said it was “a girl’s subject’? while others could give no reason for their abstinence. Professor Calvert said that women were perpetuating

sex stereotypes. “This happened largely when it was the responsibility of the woman to run the household — boys do outside work and girls do inside work," she said. The survey was conducted in 1980 when home, economics teachers and school principals about the country and pupils in Dunedin schools were asked for their opinions on home economics subjects.