I would like to reply to Stephen Overell’s column (Personnel Today, 12 April) about the Catholic work ethic, and the question ‘should women stay at home for the good of society?’
Instead of talking about women’s rights to work, why don’t we look at why society seems to think the home is not as important as the workplace? Why do we say women cannot be fulfilled at home? Is ‘home’ such a dirty word?
I train young people in hospitality NVQs and it is sad to see that we have to ‘teach’ them how to vacuum at 16 years of age.
Many of the students want to cook wonderful meals but don’t want to touch dirty dishes because they have never washed up at home or think they run the risk of catching something.
The work in the home is serious work that deserves the support of the state.
Couples need to learn how to run a home as much as they do the skills needed in the workplace.
It is often working mothers who run the home better, as they transfer the skills they learn at work to the home – for example, time keeping, perseverance, planning, budgeting etc.
These skills used to be learnt at home and we need to address this problem.
Marjory Clark, Training manager, Ashley School of Hospitality
