Women, food, and families / Nickie Charles and Marion Kerr.
- Nickie Charles
- Date:
- [1988]
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Credit: Women, food, and families / Nickie Charles and Marion Kerr. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![54 Women, food and families Several women mentioned that their daughters were more helpful than their sons. But, in these cases it is difficult to assess whether this was due to their sex or their age, as in other families with two children of the same sex the younger one often seemed inclined to be more helpful. However, if the younger more helpful child was a girl women often gave their sex as the reason for their being more helpful: Sue's more interested ... If I start washing up she'll say, 'I'll dry for you mummy', and she'll pull the chair up and dry the pots for me so she's good, she's more into - well I suppose she's a little girl, she sees what I do ... But Martin won't, very rarely will he help me but I don't mind I just - sometimes I get mad with him, I'll say 'Look will you fold your clothes up?' (Girl boy 7^.) Some women consciously tried to ensure that their sons and daughters helped equally: 'As they get older I'll want them both to help, I had to help my mother and Gilbert had to help his mother.' (Girl 3, boy 1 year 8 months.) Interestingly, even when women seemed to want their sons to learn to cook, differences emerged in the way that they spoke about girls and boys. One woman was asked whether she would teach the boys how to cook when they were older. This was in the context of her description of her partner's total inability to cook: Yes. Our Mark (9 years old) - they do a certain amount at school now when they get older and Mark will help. Say if there's something he wants to do then I'll do it with him but I think they should know how to look after themselves yes. [What about Rebecca (2 years old), is it something you'll encourage her to do?] Oh yes. She sits on my work top and holds the mixer now and things like that now. Oh yes I shall definitely teach her to cook properly - if she has a husband like mine she'll need to know. This difference in treatment needs no comment, particularly when the ages of the children are taken into account. But it indicates the influence school can have on attitudes and practices regarding cooking. Another woman also mentioned this: Yes they'll lay the table if I ask them to and they're quite good at clearing away. Julia occasionally likes to cook and Sam does cooking at school so he will experiment at home from time to time. (Boys aged 14 and 4 years, girl 8 years.) The event of boys learning to cook at school was regarded positively by all the women whom it directly affected.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18028706_0067.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
