CLEANING HABITS: FEMALES VS MALES

Jasmine Pinckney

THE MAIN GOAL OF THIS PROJECT WAS TO DIFFERENTIATE THE CLEANING HABITS BETWEEN

FEMALES AND MALES. WOMEN ARE KNOWN TO BE CLEANER THAN MEN.

SOMEWHERE IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD I WANTED TO SEE IF THIS

WAS IN FACT TRUE BUT LETS KEEP IN MIND THE REAL OBJECTIVE .

objective

SOCIAL SETTINGS

The dorm of a female group and the dorm

of a male group was where I focused. I

asked to classmates from USCB to

participate in this fieldwork, and they both

agreed.

METHODS

My main methods for collecting data for

fieldwork were observations and

interviews. Both methods were helpful in

this project. I was able to hear them talk

about their experiences as well as

observing things myself

Guys visit #1

Male #1• Tried justifying his

mess by saying “excuse the mess, I’ve been busy” (yeah right)

• Room full of clothes and overflowing trash

• Bathroom not so clean, tissue rolls on the floor

Male #2• Bathroom was

quite bare, but clean

• explained that the sink is stopped up all of the time because of shaving hairs

• Room was fresh but there were dirty socks and dirty cleats by the beside

• Tv extremely loud

Guys visit #2

Guy #1• Room full of

clothes AGAIN• food on the

television stand• Bathroom cleaner

than the previous visit, smelled like pina colada

Guy #2• Bathroom spotless,

except the trash pile swept in the corner

• “you don’t want to go in there” (his words before entering his room)

• Must have been laundry day because clothes were everywhere

• I Turned around to walk out the door and stepped on a coca- cola can

Females visit #1

• Walked into a roommate washing dishes

• Roommate frying chicken• Plug-ins• Not decorative, but well

organized• 2 big bags of trash by the

door

Female Visit #1Female #2 • Decorative

bathroom, clean with potpourri on the back of the toilet in a basket

• Strands of hair on the sink “My roommate does this everyday”

• Room clean and fresh

• Laundry basket with clothes beside the bed

• Books on the floor

Female #1• Clean

bathroom but not as clean as female #2

• Decorative and well organized

• Plug ins• Books on

the floor of the room

• Everything organized

Interviews

Females: Female1: explained how good it felt to clean. Said its much easier to find things and put them back . She believed in cleaning up after herself

Her answers matched everything that I observed

Female2: Says she learned that sometimes people are busy and they might need help when it comes to cleaning (not under all circumstances)• Said that the

way in which she grew up affects her cleaning habits today.

• Said that on Sundays they get together and clean their apartment

Interviews

MalesMale 1:• “I like clean

but a mess doesn’t bother me”

• Rather clean up behind himself

• Was taught to pick up behind himself

Male 2:• Admitted to

being lazy• Says he only

clean once a week

• Says that he is too busy to be cleaning all of the time.

CONCLUSIONAfter doing this fieldwork I realized that the

approaches to cleaning differ between men and

women. Most of time you have women that are more

likely to clean or have cleanliness. It appeared to be

this way in my project also. Could gender roles have

something to do with this? I also found it interesting

how the females let their trash bags pile up more than

the males. Could gender roles have something to do

with this?