Men still hopeless with home appliances
A fifth of all British men have absolutely no idea how to use the washing machine, it was revealed today.
In truly stereotypical fashion, men across the country hold their hands up and admit they are completely clueless when it comes to putting on a basic wash load.
The findings emerged in a study of 3,000 people conducted by npower hometeam which uncovered the household appliances that are hardest to use.
Another item typically associated with doing the family’s laundry is the iron – which 11 per cent of men claim to be “unable to operate”.
And it seems in addition to the washing, one in 10 blokes reckon they wouldn’t know how to use the cooker or oven.
Joan Coe, marketing manager for npower hometeam, said: “It’s incredible to see that stereotypes still prevail in some households with men confused by washing machines and cookers in the kitchen.
“But beyond programming the heating or finding the trip switch, men seem equally clueless when the heating stops working and are worryingly more likely to tamper with appliances to try and fix them.
“It might be seen as more manly to tinker with the heating and electrical items, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could be making matters worse, or potentially be putting yourself at risk.
“The message is, if you want to help out, take a turn at doing the washing and the ironing and leave the more complicated household items to the experts such as a Gas Safe engineer.”
The study reveals 21 per cent of women are left baffled when attempting to use the wireless routers, having no idea how to share internet connections or even switch it on.
But men are little better at working the complicated home network device – with 15 per cent admitting they don’t know what they’re doing with it.
Fuse boxes also leave both men and women stumped – with seven per cent and 19 per cent respectively being unable to use them.
The boiler also bewilders people, as 14 per cent of women and nine per cent of men would have no idea what to do if the heating failed to work or the water didn’t warm up.
Perhaps most surprisingly, one in 20 men are also perplexed by home gadgets such as the computer or the smart phone.
While women have absolutely no idea how to navigate their way around the family games console or the DVD player.
The survey also shows the average Brit gets annoyed with gadgets in and around the house or car at least once a week because it simply won’t work properly.
While the average family has to put up with appliances and gadgets breaking or stop working at least once a month.
Four in 10 women – compared to a third of men – say most gadgets leave them well and truly flummoxed.
Men are more likely to try and fix a household appliance themselves if it goes wrong, but 42 per cent of women would be quick to get other people to help.
More than half of women would ask their other half to take a look at an appliance if it stopped working in the house, compared to just 14 per cent of men.
But men are more likely to ignore a problem if it comes along, hoping the item won’t need to be used.
GADGETS TO BAFFLE BRITS:
MEN - WOMEN
Washing machine - Wireless routers
Wireless routers - Fuse box
Iron - Boiler
Boiler - Modem
Cooker/oven - Sat Nav
Fuse box - Smart phone
Smart phone - Games console
Modem - DVD player
Computer - Washing machine
Sat Nav - Iron