Colegio Montecastelo in Vigo, Spain is promoting gender equality by offering classes to teach boys vital skills like cooking, ironing, sewing, and other household chores. They hope that ensuring that boys know how to perform these tasks will begin to balance the scales of home labor.
- The school wants to help their boys become better men. According to school coordinator Gabriel Bravo, “It seemed very useful for our students to learn to perform these tasks so that, when they form a family, they are involved from the beginning and know that a house is a matter of two, it’s not a matter of the woman cleaning, doing the dishes, and ironing.” Amen!
- The boys’ fathers can also join in on the lessons. The school invites the fathers of their students to come in to take part in many of the lessons, not only to set a good example but to potentially to pick up some skills of their own while they’re there! It’s not a terrible idea…
- The classes aren’t just for boys, though. Female students also learn the skills, but while traditionally, the home ec classes were predominantly female, they’re now much more mixed and include the male students as well.
- They teach more “masculine” skills too. There are courses available in skills like plumbing, carpentry, and masonry, as well, so female students can learn these skills along with the boys.
- Everyone could use being more well-rounded. There’s no reason that women should be the only ones cooking and cleaning, just as men shouldn’t be the only ones building and fixing things. By offering courses in all of these areas to both male and female students, it ensures everyone can do everything. Isn’t that how it should be?
