ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: JURA KONCIUS THE WASHINGTON POST
It's a guy thing.
As more and more women enter the work force, growing numbers of men become more intimately involved with mops, dish drainers, vacuums and steam irons. Research shows that when men face housework, they'd rather do it with an array of gadgets, preferably motorized.
At the National Housewares Manufacturers Association trade show in January, a number of product introductions slated to hit store shelves later this year clearly targeted the male market, from fashionably unshaven hip college kids to boomers tending the backyard grill.
``I'm not sure that men are actually doing more cooking or more cleaning,'' says A.J. Riedel, a Phoenix-based housewares-industry consultant, ``but typically, men really like their toys.''
Not that things are all that equal yet in the housekeeping department. According to a 1994 Yankelovich Partners survey, even in dual-income families, women still take 80 percent of the primary responsibility for individual household duties such as cleaning, cooking and laundry.
The two areas where men see themselves as most helpful - trash removal and dishwashing - are seen by women as representing just a fraction of the total work needed in the house, according to a 1996 Black & Decker State-of-the-Household White Paper Report.
But if a man is confronted with scraping the icky stuff from between the bathroom tiles, research suggests that rather than donning rubber gloves and brandishing a scratchy sponge, he'd be more likely to attempt it wielding a tool like ScumBuster, a cordless appliance introduced last year.
Black & Decker, makers of that popular power scrubber, has set its sights on the male market with Scum-Buster Auto, a motorized cordless cleaner with rotating brushes that scour tires, upholstery and chrome. The soft red plastic appliance ($60) is immersible and has an ergonomic handle with three accessory brushes.
For men who serve as the household's designated trash removers, there is some news from Tucker Housewares. Paws Off! ($16) is a tilted trash can with a special quick-release hinged lid and a closure meant to outsmart raccoons and other varmints out scrounging for tasty treats. In tests conducted by the Rhode Island Department of Fish and Wildlife, the 32-gallon capacity can proved unyielding.
Grilla Gear made by General Housewares Corp., is a new line of accessories ($2 to $15) focused on the grill, long a bastion of the male of the species. About 84 percent of American families own grills, and 2.7 billion barbecue events were held in 1995, according to industry surveys. And for some reason, cooking outdoors is viewed as a more-masculine activity than cooking indoors.
Although women were more likely than men to decide when and what foods to barbecue, men were more likely to have cooked the food, says the Barbecue Industry Association in Naperville, Ill.
The designers of Grilla Gear want to supply everything needed to prepare a meal outdoors conveniently in manly style: sturdy steel and wood oversized non-stick barbecue tools, grill cleaning brushes and plastic timers in the shape of flying hamburgers and round domed grills. The tools all have soft easy-grip handles, more comfortable for even the aging grillmeister. The line is accessorized with decidedly tailored aprons and mitts featuring cowboys, pickles and gorillas in prints reminiscent of little boys' flannel pajamas.
If the male element in your house has attempted in recent months to achieve the scruffy but studied unshaven look of Hollywood hunks like Brad Pitt, Braun's Shave & Shape ($65) may be for them. Shave & Shape features an attachment that allows facial hair to be trimmed and styled, letting the user maintain a shadowy three-day-growth look. It also gives a clean, close shave when needed. Braun, a maker of European-style personal and household products, designed the new shaver to be used either cordless or plugged in.
``We've noticed in our office that lots of college kids shave during the week, but on Thursday and Friday, they don't shave, so that they will have that scruffy look for the weekend,'' says Barb Henderson, a spokeswoman for Braun. The company is marketing this product specifically for ``younger males'' - which should guarantee it a wide audience.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB