"HOUSEHUSBANDS"

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4324, 27 July 1937, Page 7

"HOUSEHUSBANDS"

CAREERS FOR BOYS MEETING THE DOMESTIC PROBLEM “ Househusbands ” is a new word in the English vocabulary, but it seems possible that it may become familiar there before very long. The fact is that boys have discovered that once they turn their hand to it they can become genuinely domesticated, can thoroughly enjov the life of a home worker—supported as it is in these days by a host of handy gadgets and contrivances —and can turn it into a quite enviable profession. Recently the Ministry of Labour has begun the training of “ househusbands ” in the “ special areas ” of South Wales, where unemployment has been hardest, putting them through four weeks of instruction in elementary kitchen and household work, followed by six weeks of specialised training in the duties of houseboy or kitchen assistant, and then drafting them away —with railway fares paid—to localities where their services are required.

“ HOUSEWIFE ” TO CONTINUE. But this, of course, is not going to out the “ housewife ” from what she has always been taught to believe is her rightful sphere. It will merely have the effect of acting as the sort of spur, which is_ always felt when “ alien ” competition enters any department of work. Girls are already‘‘showing signs that a profession which for a number of years has stood low in popular esteem is—now the male element has invaded it—beginning to be regarded with higher favour. Plans have been discussed in South Wales for the raising of the domestic status, and the Juvenile Employment Committee of the Cardiff Corporation has approved a definite wage scale; a maximum day of nine hours, with two and five hours off on alternate Sundays ;• at least one halfday holiday each week, and a fortnight’s vacation, with pay, after four months’ service.

Up in the north-west of England and in South Wales, too, special training, lasting for as long as nine months, is being given by the Ministry of Labour to girls of 14 who— taken from the poorest homes where “ real eggs ” for cooking and anything in the shape of a well-stocked larder are unknown —are being trained to deal intelligently with conditions in homes where the yearly income is anything up to £5,000. Moreover a genuine effort is being made to accord to the worker who serves the domestic affairs of life a status which is at least equal to that of the worker who serves the factory or the office.