My mother taught my brothers, sisters, and I to cook when we were growing up.
She thought it very important that regardless of gender every person should know how to cook, clean, and otherwise take care of themself.
A very wise woman, to be sure, one that I try and emulate at all times and always seem to come up a little short. My mother had a way about her, a style and grace, that won her friends and admirers wherever she went. She was only concerned about her family, though, and spent all of her free time with her kids. One thing that blows me away is how she was able to cook without any sort of air conditioning to rely on. She relied on natural ventilation to keep her kitchen cool and free of smoke and odor, and had a few different fans she used to keep the air circulation. We didn’t have AC because my family was very large and very poor, and those sort of creature comforts were just not to be had for us. Somehow, even without any kind of cooling, my mother would never sweat even when working with a 400 degree over and four blazing stove burners. So sure, I can cook thanks to Mother, but what I can’t do is keep from dripping sweat from the massive amount of heating. I need to keep the central air conditioning system running full blast at all times I am in the kitchen or I will end up totally sweating all over the food. Yuck!