Home economics taught in school

Gender equality starts at homeAnd in Italy, inequality is truly impressive: 80 percent of the Houseworks are at the expense of women, while men only take care of it 20 percent of the time. This disparity has been exacerbated by the pandemic, when families have been forced to stay home, and women have seen their domestic workload increase by fifteen hours a week.
To get out of the dead end of an imbalance that means not being able to achieve true and concrete gender equality, we must take into consideration the students' educational pathAnd propose housework courses for boys, as well as girls, starting in elementary school, as is done in countries that are highly advanced in this area, like Finland, but also in Mediterranean nations, which have a culture of work-related weights between men and women very similar to ours, like Spain.

La Finland, in matters of school, never ceases to amaze. And to continually update its educational programs, while maintaining a very rigorous basic approach: school prepares not only for life, work, and further studies, but also for citizenship and interpersonal relationships. At home, with friends, and in the outside world. Hence, for example, the importance of home economics courses, already in the first years of middle school.

Teaching Home Economics

In a documentary aired by the BBC, It turns out that an "interdisciplinary method" of teaching is making progress in Finnish schools, which does not mean giving up basic knowledge of grammar, history, geography, science, but rather connecting them (and making them more relevant) to the contemporary world.An example? The history of Pompeii and Vesuvius serves to tell the story of life in ancient Rome, which is then compared to that of modern Finland. Even with respect to the lifestyle that favors, both for health and human relationships, the custom of spa, yesterday, and saunas, today. The same goes for home economics: old, healthy habits of housework are being reintroduced in a modern way, broadening the scope of responsibilities from women to men, who cannot delegate everything in the home to women.

Cooking classes and home improvement projects

«At home I do the washing machine, I iron, I make the beds, which I don't always do well, I shovel the snow, and I take out the garbage. In short, I take care of the housework...": the words of Martin Schultz, a highly influential politician in Germany, caused quite a stir during an election campaign against Angela Merkel. Even though in Northern European countries, the burden of housework is much more balanced between men and women than in Italy.

Schultz, like a good part of the political leaders of Northern Europe (remember Merkel who goes on holiday to Ischia by taking a normal hydrofoil?), he understood perfectly how much desire for normality there is in public opinion and how new lifestyles, starting from the domestic economy, are fully part of a good governance programIf only for one reason: the extremely serious and unjust imbalance to the detriment of women is closely linked to the fact that women, mothers, often busy with work and raising two families, are always burdened with almost all of the housework. Even the simplest tasks: ironing, washing, putting the trash away. The waste of women's work, never truly valued, also arises from this funnel, and a politician has the duty to acknowledge it and provide some answers, starting with her own direct example.

However, if we really want to think about rebalancing the burden of housework, currently entirely on women's shoulders, we should start thinking about how to teach it already in compulsory school, to middle school children, as they do in Finland.

What is taught during these courses? All the tasks typically assigned to housewives, who cover nearly 90 percent of the household chores. The boys learn to cook, to iron, to hand wash delicate clothes, to knit, to patch a sock, to build a sled to have fun in the snowBut during the lessons the teachers also teach Don't waste food, water, money with compulsive shopping; to be responsible with their money and even to acknowledge a food intolerance. The most surprising thing is that these are hours of lessons (three or four a week) that students really enjoy, to the point of considering them their favorites.

Home Economics Course Benefits

Home economics at school brings many benefits to the younger Finnish generations. First of all: the school teaches gender equality in a very concrete way, and when you become a couple, no male will be able to say, when refusing to iron a shirt or cook, "I don't know how to do it." Furthermore, the housework program inspires a sense of autonomy: These kids will be able to manage on their own, at home, as soon as they leave compulsory school.. And they won't always need to mom and dad to move forward: a life lesson that counts a lot in difficult times like these.

Home Economics in Spain

Read also:

• Maternity bonus starting January 1st: a new scam for women. It's law, but no one has gotten it.
• Domestic work, how to pay it. Men should foot the bill at home.
• Italy is not a country for mothers. 25% lose or quit their jobs after pregnancy.