Women's shed to open in Adelaide's north

[davidc4430]

Women's shed to open in Adelaide's north to combat social isolation

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-07/womens-shed-opens-in-adelaides-north-to-combat-social-isolati...

the womens activities going by the pictures are a wee bit sexist

knitting, cooking, clothes and gardening.

lets hope they there are others subjects like house maintenance or car fixing.

the same goes for mens sheds should include doing/learning things normally done by women, cooking and cleaning.

i usually see men surrounded by machinery and tools in their mens shed.

a lot of those seeking out these places have lost their husband or wife and it would be good to see then getting help with day to day stuff their off sider would have been doing.

i think the shed idea is brilliant for lonely people.

[brerrabbit585]

It's pretty obvious they did it to make her feel useful (valued/needed/appreciated), and that's exactly what she needed so it was a win/win.

Why do some women think that because they want men and women to be the same that they can shove that on all women and men? Men and women are made differently and naturally are attracted to different things. Even in the kibbutzim in Israel where children haven't seen any traditional male/female role modelling (the parents all do both roles) the kids are displaying traditional masculine and feminine traits, eg. the girls prefer to play with dolls and the boys with trucks, etc.

Plenty of women still prefer their traditional role and aren't interested in trying to make their girls into little boys. I'm in a lot of craft groups on facebook (and I sell craft stuff to women) and the women still all buy pink for their little girls and want 'girly' things for them, and they still buy traditional boy-type stuff for their sons.

[lyhargr_0]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:

It's pretty obvious they did it to make her feel useful (valued/needed/appreciated), and that's exactly what she needed so it was a win/win.

Why do some women think that because they want men and women to be the same that they can shove that on all women and men? Men and women are made differently and naturally are attracted to different things. Even in the kibbutzim in Israel where children haven't seen any traditional male/female role modelling (the parents all do both roles) the kids are displaying traditional masculine and feminine traits, eg. the girls prefer to play with dolls and the boys with trucks, etc.

Plenty of women still prefer their traditional role and aren't interested in trying to make their girls into little boys. I'm in a lot of craft groups on facebook (and I sell craft stuff to women) and the women still all buy pink for their little girls and want 'girly' things for them, and they still buy traditional boy-type stuff for their sons.

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I consider myself to be quite independent but try as I might I am no good at most home handy person "stuff" ( Yes! I have tried ). If I didn't have hubs to do it , I would have to pay someone to come and it   ..... If that make me reliant on a bloke helping me, then so be it   ... my care factor is ZERO

[brerrabbit585]

Isn't that part of what men's sheds are about - somewhere for women to go when they need help with changing a fuse, etc? That makes the men feel needed and useful, in the same way that the woman feels needed when she makes their tea for them.

I have a friend in Qld who goes to a men's shed and he's always making things for people who come to them needing help. I remember he even made a nesting box for someone's chooks. I don't know whether all men's sheds are like that but I hope they don't think the govt funds all their fancy tools just so they can amuse themselves.

[zanadoo_56]

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@imastawka wrote:

Get the little lady to make their morning tea.

Nothing sexist about that at all.

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I reckon if it suits the elderly lady to make the morning tea she should stick with it.  I imagine if she wanted to know how to change a washer or whatever, the guys would probably fall over themselves to teach her....or volunteer for the task.

My elderly mother - and her even more decrepit daughter (me) - have solved the problem of changing washers and all that kind of stuff.  We both have found tame handymen to call on for all kinds of tasks. 

For Mum, my Dad did all those tasks and she is not keen to learn at her age.  I know how to change a washer, hang pictures, minor painting - all kinds of things that I used to do - but arthritis has left me with reduced strength in hands and shoulders and dodgy knees so I can't stand in one place for more than a couple of minutes.

If I visited a men's shed, in no time I'd me asking them to do or make all kinds of stuff for me.  Better I stay away.  

As for women's sheds, I have never wanted to learn knitting, I already know how to do sewing and craft, but my cooking could probably improve.  BUT...aside from when I need help, I am happy living alone, and would find these regular activities and social gatherings a real pain in no time.  Guess I'm not very sociable.....but for everyone else I think the sheds are a good idea.

[imastawka]

Answering no-one in particular -

My point, which didn't come across obviously, was the fact they invited her to make their morning tea.

Why couldn't they have just invited her out of friendliness and helpulness to someone - of either gender - who needed some company?

They could have made morning tea for her instead.

I think that would have been the bigger gesture.

[zanadoo_56]

It would have been a good gesture, but just inviting her....she might have wondered what on earth was she going to do there.

It's a social but also almost working environment.  Being the only female with nothing specific to do I think you'd feel like a fifth wheel.

Making the morning tea would have broken the ice.

[brerrabbit585]

If they knew her well they probably knew that she needed to be needed, to feel useful. If she was depressed she probably wouldn't have been interested in going just to be sociable, so they were clever and gave her a reason for wanting to go.  Depression often makes people feel worthless so they gave her a way to get back her self-esteem.  Merely inviting her along wouldn't have done that.

If you tell most depressed people that they need to get out and be with others, most of the time they're not interested because that's how depression affects you. Dale Carnegie in his book How To Stop Worrying and Start Living has a chaper on how to beat depression in 8 days and he gives examples of people who never wanted to do anything, but as soon as they were given something to do where they felt useful the depression disappeared. That's what obviously worked for this particular lady.

[lyhargr_0]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:

If they knew her well they probably knew that she needed to be needed, to feel useful. If she was depressed she probably wouldn't have been interested in going just to be sociable, so they were clever and gave her a reason for wanting to go.  Depression often makes people feel worthless so they gave her a way to get back her self-esteem.  Merely inviting her along wouldn't have done that.

If you tell most depressed people that they need to get out and be with others, most of the time they're not interested because that's how depression affects you. Dale Carnegie in his book How To Stop Worrying and Start Living has a chaper on how to beat depression in 8 days and he gives examples of people who never wanted to do anything, but as soon as they were given something to do where they felt useful the depression disappeared. That's what obviously worked for this particular lady.

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You have hit the nail right on the head 🙂

[brerrabbit585]

Yeah, 'cos I've been there.

[lyhargr_0]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:
Yeah, 'cos I've been there.

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Regardless of what anyone else thinks, these men knew this lady, they offered her something meaningful to do, to get her out of her our and start her socialising again  and it worked.