School teaches boys to do household chores to battle gender inequality

We might be in the year 2021, but a majority of men still consider house chores as work meant for anyone but them. With patriarchy chipping away at women's rights for centuries, men are comfortable shirking the responsibility of doing their fair share of work at home. While it might take a long time to unlearn centuries' worth of patriarchal conditioning, a school in Spain is exploring innovative ways to reset the balance. Colegio Montecastelo, a school in Spain has launched an initiative to teach valuable life skills to everyone. The courses will be applicable to everyone, not limited to gender, and hence boys will be required to learn skills such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing, reported Bored Panda. 

The goal of the program is to promote gender equality and make boys make independent. The course will also nudge boys towards sharing chores at home and thus, serves as the stepping stone towards equality at home. The program will also be taught by volunteers from the school administration and will also have some of the students' dads teaching as well so as to set an example. The program has been well received and the school also posts pictures from the course. Impressionable children grow up watching who does more work around the house and it eventually plays a great role in their lives as adults. 

The response to the courses online has also been overwhelmingly positive. Neneng Lim wrote, " It's good for them to learn it at school, besides some of the parents are unable to teach them at home due to the lack of time. This will help children learn to be independent." Claire Breton said the course would help ensure gender equality at home. "This should be taught everywhere not only for gender equality but most importantly, learning to become fully empowered... not to always depend on your mom. They should also teach how to make a budget as well, and live in society," wrote Breton. Other Facebook users said they hoped the courses would be implemented in other schools and countries as well.

Sharing chores is the bedrock of a good marriage, according to a study. More than half of married US adults said that sharing household chores (56 percent) is “very important” to a successful marriage, according to the report from Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study. Shared interests (64 percent) and a satisfying sexual relationship (61 percent) were the only factors ahead of "sharing chores" with regards to having a successful marriage. It was also noted that married men (63 percent) are more likely than women (58 percent) to say sharing household chores is very important to a successful marriage. The study also found that the younger generation is more inclined to share housework. Those from ages 18 to 29 (67 percent) and ages 30 to 49 (63 percent) are more likely to say sharing chores is very important, compared with 57 percent of those from ages 50 to 64 and 56 percent of those of 65 and older, according to the study.

Relationship expert Dan Bacon, the founder of The Modern Man, spoke to Bored Panda about the importance of sharing chores. “If your gut instinct tells you that you should be chipping in more to help out with chores around the house, then do it. Do it from a place of love because you love the other person and don’t want them to be under additional stress during this time,” said Dan. Bacon added that people should do chores out of love, support, and respect. When you start pitching in to do household chores from a place of resentment and anger, it puts a strain on the relationship with time.