Editorial: Why women gave up ironing

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

One of the weekend magazines recently showed it was prepared to ask the big questions ...

At what point did ironing become the man's job? it queried.

Good to see someone address the elephant in the room.

The writer (possibly female) reported that women - once "wedded to the ironing board" - have largely given up this household chore.

A quick survey of the writer's friends confirmed what many of us have long suspected ... if anyone's ironing in the family home these days, they are a "he".

There were some neatly-pressed explanations for this, none of which I would dispute.

Women have fuller, busier lives; they have better things to do with their time; they have woken up to the fact that you can now buy clothes that don't need ironing; and they have cottoned on to the fact that no one bothers to check if you've ironed the kids' socks, undies and pillow cases - least of all the kids.

As a recidivist ironer, I can't argue with this gender-based setting of the dial to zero and switching off at the plug.

I iron my shirts for work, and I iron the kids' school uniforms because I would like them to look presentable - at least at the start of the school day. In our house, I am the chairman of the board.

I am not alone among men on the shirt front. Many think it important to look smart for the office; women may be more concerned with looking attractive.

And ironing may be a well-creased metaphor for bigger things.

Men stuck in a routine/ritual that could be past its sell-by date; women already moving on. Men putting on a smooth appearance as they suffer the bumps and bruises of a career's rollercoaster ride; women, again, having better things to do with their time.

As always with this topic, I have entered a world of sweeping generalisations. But I think there's a grain of truth in there.