With names like "applied domestic economics", "the epistemology of laundry", and "the foundations of domestic psychology", the six lessons that make up a new, one-day, course in home management aim to turn both men and women into super-efficient house-keepers. The course is sponsored by sponge and cloth-makers Spontex and will take place in Milan next February 7. Despite the academic-sounding names, lessons will feature a mixture of common-sense advice and time-management skills. The course's organisers believe that running a house has become increasingly complex due to busy modern lifestyles and shared gender roles, and expect more than half of the 30 participants to be men. Fiorenzo Bresciani, one of the course tutors and president of the Italian Association of Male Housewives, says that men are increasingly interested in household chores and feel the need to prove themselves in the domestic sphere.