cleaning habits
TRANSCRIPT
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?