20 seconds. Feels like a short span right? But that 20 seconds can save you from various diseases or illnesses causing germs. Yes! Washing your hands with soap or hand-wash liquids can kill the germs that might affect your health. A day is also dedicated to advocating the importance of hand washing. It’s global handwashing day, celebrated on October, 15th, 2022.
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On this handwashing day, this blog is going to address a different observation that has been analyzed by various researchers. We all know unlike men, women are always right. But there is also another point that adds a cookie point to women. It is found that women clean their hands more often than men. No this isn’t an outcome of the pandemic, this is an age-old fact and various studies have been conducted in the past to testify that women beat men in hand hygiene.
In a study conducted in the year 2003 by the American Society of Microbiology, it came to light that there is a gender gap in hand washing. This was evident as more women washed their hands after using the washroom when compared to men. 83% of women washed their hands, whereas only 74% of men washed their hands.
Three surveys were conducted between 2005 and 2010 by Harris Interactive for The American Microbiology Society and The American Cleaning Institute, in the restrooms of museums and stadiums. The surveys were conducted in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. From the surveys, it was observed that the gender gap ranged between 16 and 25 percent.
In the year 2009, with the employment of highly technological, wireless devices in a highway rest stop in the UK, research was made. With these devices, the entry and the pressing of soap dispensers were recorded. Through this way, in three months, 2,00,000 restroom trips were recorded. A huge gap was noticed in this research. It was noted that only 31% of men washed their hands with soap whereas 65% of women washed their hands with soap.
Michigan State University conducted research in the year 2013, under the leadership of Carl Borchgrevink, director of the school of hospitality at the same university. 12 research scholars were assigned the task of assessing 4 washrooms on and off campus. A total of 3749 men and women were observed. In that 15% of men didn’t wash their hands. Comparatively only 7% of women didn’t wash their hands. 50% of men used soap to wash their hands whereas, only 78% of women used soap. Quite surprisingly only 5% washed long enough to kill the infection-causing germs.
Earlier this year, a survey result was released by Bradley Corporation for hand hygiene day observed on May 5th, 2022. There was an increase in the frequency of hand washing in 2020 due to Covid – 19. However, in the year 2022, it has been noted that the frequency has reduced. From 10 times a day men reduced the frequency to 5 times a day. On the other hand, for women, from 11 times a day, it has been reduced to 8 times a day.
There are many reasons why there is a gender gap in hand washing. One of the reasons is assumed to be the sense of invincibility that men possess.
However, in reality, the reasons for the difference in hand hygiene in men and hand hygiene in women date back to the 19th Century. At least that is what the historian Nancy Tomes has mentioned in her book, The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women & the Microbes in American Life. The discovery of the Germ Theory has significantly exerted pressure on women on hygiene grounds. Before the discovery of the germ theory, there was a misconception that the disease was caused by bad air or miasma. But the germ theory discovered that the real reason behind infections is germs. This added responsibility for women as they were considered responsible for preventing the diseases from spreading. The women of the era were viewed as hygiene gatekeepers. They were the forces taking efforts for hygiene improvement. They taught their family members, hand-washing, advocated men to stop spitting and requested anyone from kissing or coming into contact with their baby. The majority of public health workers, visiting nurses, social workers, and home economists were women. These people were responsible to preach hygienic methods and do’s and don’ts to avoid infection.
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Also, don’t forget hand hygiene is important.
‘Wash your hands, kill the germs’
