ENDING DRUDGERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 4

ENDING DRUDGERY

SCIENCE IN THE HOME "For the first time scientists from different parts of the world are to tackle the problem of domestic drudgery. They will meet in London next week for the International Congress for Scientific Management, wrote a London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald on July 13. Among the delegates from 40 countries will be women who have devoted their lives to improving the lot of the housewife. These women declare that since housewives spend two-thirds of their lives in the kitchens of their homes, kitchens must be modernised on the same lines as factories and workshops. Mrs. 11. Raphael, a member of the National Council of Women in Great Britain, which has recently set up a research sub-committee of the Household Service Committee, told an interviewer that the committee recently designed an ideal kitchen and submitted plans to a London builder. The builder was erecting hundreds of houses around London, every one with kitchens that threatened to continue the old regime of kitchen slavery. When the builder saw what women really wanted, such as a sink in a good light, two draining boards in the right places, shelves at proper levels, and a ventilated larder, he immediately put the plan into operation. " We are not asking anything impossible," declared Mrs. Raphael. " All wo ask is that women in the home get the same attention as is paid to industrial workers." The conference will bo the first in Britain at which the work of the housewifo will be recognised as a "profession." Under the chairmanship of Professor Winifred Ctillis, a committee of women has been formed, including Mrs. Raphael, Mrs. M. Corbett Ashby, Viscountess Astor, Miss Haslctt and members of almost every woman s organisation in the country. In discussing how far scientific management in the home can contribute to the raising of the standard of life, the women at the congress will debate regarding present methods of investigation, how improved technique can be evolved, and what steps should bo taken to secure tho application of results.