It must have been the only class she failed to shine in. Former prime minister Julia Gillard said on Wednesday that she'd had to take lessons in laundry as part of her public school education, while all the boys were doing "groovy things like metalwork, electronics and woodwork".
The story showed how far Australian women had come, she told a gathering of A-listers at a Sydney lunch, particularly in their performance at school and university. But glaring disparities remained once women joined the workforce, in pay and superannuation (or lack of it).
And they still fell victim to "cultural stereotypes that live so deep in our brain that we are not really conscious of them".
Perhaps there was a hint of old battle scars showing when she added: "These stereotypes whisper to us that a woman leader cannot be likeable because she must have given up on the nurturing and feeling bit."
Speaking at the launch of ANZ's Women's Initiative, which aims to start tackling the financial disadvantage faced by many women in the workplace and in retirement, Ms Gillard was joined by former tennis great Martina Navratilova, ANZ chief executive Mike Smith and retired Lieutenant-General David Morrison, who championed female advancement during his tenure as army chief.
Mr Morrison revealed that not all obstacles to reform had come from men inside Defence."I was surprised at some of the adverse reaction from some of the senior women," he said.
"Their initial feelings ... [were that] lowering the height of the hurdles we were asking women to jump would in some ways demean their achievements."
While respecting that view, he said: "My point back to them was that this was about giving everyone the chance to reach their potential, and while they might have reached it, an enormous number of women have been unable to do that and the army has lost out as a result."
Ms Gillard spoke in strong support of targets for female representation in Parliament, saying this should apply to both sides of politics.
"What gets measured gets done ... if you don't have targets or goals, you wont do it," she said, in comments aimed most pointedly at the federal Coalition. There are only two women in the cabinet, compared with 10 when she was leader.
ANZ 's Mr Smith said he was throwing down the gauntlet to other companies to follow his bank's initiative.
ANZ will now pay super contributions when employees are on parental leave, top up female employees' super with an extra $500 a year, and provide free super advice to customers (most often women) with less than $50,000 in their accounts.
Ms Navratilova had the most succinct advice - "Just trust your gut and hit the ball" - though Ms Gillard joked that "didn't work for me quite so well".
