Of Men and Household Chores

Men are also a part of the women’s world and we women interact with them on a day to day basis. I got married in August 2012 and since then I am living with an adorable man.

After our cooking maid went to Ooty for about 10 days, my husband has been helping me cook every day during her absence. On one of the days he cooked some rice, thawed frozen chapathi and also made peanut chutney using the mixer. I was so excited about my husband’s culinary developments that I elatedly told my mother about all that he made. My mother also got excited and she remarked that, ‘I am proud of my son-in-law’. A few hours in the kitchen and my hubby earned a great deal of praise and appreciation.

My husband’s cooking act sparked a discussion between me and my mom.

My mother said, ‘Men do not mind doing household chores as long as they are linked with technology and do not take a long time. For example, chores like cooking rice in a rice cooker, washing clothes in a washing machine and cutting vegetables in a fancy vegetable cutter are done by men with ease and willingness. Technology and men go together. As a matter of fact, it must be men who invented the pressure cooker and the washing machine.’

So I googled it up, ‘Did men really invent the washing machine and the pressure cooker?’

The pressure cooker was created by Denis Papin (who is a man) in the year 1679. His invention was named as the Papin digester. He later invented the safety valve after the cookers started blowing up due to steam build-up. So there you go ladies, it was a man who made our cooking faster, easier and tastier with the pressure cooker (http://missvickie.com/library/history.html).

The original papin digester

I looked for answers in the all-knowing web about who invented the washing machine. James King patented the first hand powered washing machine in the year 1851. It was Alva J Fisher who invented the first electric powered washing machine (both of them male).

My mom was right. It was men who made the women’s life easier in the kitchen with technology. It is no wonder that men of this generation love to use the devices designed by their long gone ancestors. So women, one of the ways to get men do the household activities is to convert it into a fun stuff by using the latest gadgets.

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Image of papin digester from http://www.123rf.com/photo_14986669_old-illustration-of-steam-digester-invented-by-french-physicist-denis-papin-in-1679-original-by-unkn.html

Image of washing machine from
http://lifeisbetterthangood.blogspot.in/2009_03_01_archive.html