University Home Economics Programs Attracting More Men

Five years ago, only about 10% of the students in the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences were men. Last year, however, nearly 1/3 of the college’s 1,700 students were men. Changes such as these are occurring all across the country as the stereotypes traditionally acquainted with home economics programs are beginning to crumble.

Educators and school administrators say that even the term "home economics" is becoming outdated. Many schools have changed home economics program titles to terms such as "human sciences" or "consumer sciences" to reflect the broader acceptance and appeal to students irrespective of gender. "Our students graduate to become lawyers, loan counselors, directors of day care, dietitians," said Sharon Nickols, dean of UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "We just don't know their major because they don't say, 'I'm a family and consumer scientist."'

Instead of the classes in casserole-baking and cookie-making that were the staple of high school home economics classes in junior high decades ago, courses are now geared toward what educators term "life skills." Instead of learning about laundry essentials, students are taught tips for budgeting, and basic information about the laws of supply and demand. Changes to home economics programs to make their approach a broader one have begun to draw in more male students, says Dan Bower. Bower is president of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, a group that was once called the American Home Economics Association.

In the 1950s, with the United States still recovering from the effects of World War II, American girls were routinely instructed in the value of women working in the home and nurturing a family. Twenty years later, home ec programs began to branch out into more specialized topics such as marriage counseling, child development, and nutritional sciences. Many such niche topics became separate programs at many schools. During the past decade, that trend has increased, and some schools are even offering specialized degrees in "home ec" related topics such as nutrition and fitness, property management, and family dynamics. Such specialized programs have helped to attract a more even mix of both women and men.

Dennis Savaiana, the dean of Purdue University’s College of Consumer and Family Sciences, explains that today is "the golden age of home ec." According to Savaianao, "We're directing all the same issues—family, food and finance—in a much broader, societal way. These are issues that transcend the home and reflect society in every way." But although home ec programs are beginning to include more non-gender-related topics such as athletic training programs, schools are still working to open up the appeal of traditionally female-friendly programs to males.

One way of making home ec programs appeal to male students is to focus on nutrition and how it affects the entire body in a holistic way. Taking a nutritional approach to food education rather than a recipe approach shifts the focus to health rather than palatability and efficiency, making the subject matter appeal to a wider audience of both males and females. Schools are welcoming and embracing the opportunity to broaden the concept of home economics. The only people not enthusiastic about the increasing numbers of male home ec students are jocks who enroll in home ec programs because the classes are filled with mostly girls—now they have some competition. Maybe they’ll have to learn to bake cookies.