She Brings Home the Bacon, Fries It Up in the Pan, and is Still the Only One in the House with Dishpan Hands
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that though an ever-increasing number of American women are working both outside the home and in work-from-home positions, in order to help a partner financially maintain the household, they are still also responsible for the lion’s share of household chores:
Household Activities in 2011
–On an average day, 83 percent of women and 65 percent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.
–On the days they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.6 hours on such activities, while men spent 2.1 hours.
–On an average day, 19 percent of men did housework — such as cleaning or doing laundry — compared with 48 percent of women. Forty percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 66 percent of women.
According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, “Women make up the majority (57.5% and 57.2%, respectively) of professional and related occupations and service occupations, the occupations expected to grow most rapidly (16.8% and 13.8%, respectively) from 2008–18.” The NCPE also noted that married women represented the most dramatic increase in the percentage of working women, and even mothers with very young children are now participating in the labor force.
Since this is the case, shouldn’t household chores be more evenly distributed? Admittedly, the number of men participating in “food prep or cleanup” is comparable, but the gap significantly widens when it comes to cleaning. Does this mean men (and women) are still genderizing chores like laundry, mopping, and bathroom scouring?
If you’re in a marital or cohabitating situation, do these numbers accurately represent your experience? Are you working full-time and coming home to do the bulk of the housework? Or have you and your partner worked out a more equitable exchange of household labor? Do you find there’s still a strong “expectation” that a woman in a relationship should take care of home, even as she is contributing to half (or more) of the bills?
I think if both people are working full-time, then the household chores should be distributed evenly. If one person is staying at home and taking care of children, then that person should be responsible for the majority of the housework.
If, women go through the birthing process, and come out alive-TRUST there is nothing we cannot do!
Now, with that said-that last question caught my attention in more ways than one. I am contributing to more than half of the household maintenance bills, and I come home to do what exactly?! Nope! I need him to equalize it, by also sharing in the household chores. Or we gon have WAHALA!—->very, dramatic at that.
Get yo’ @$$ in the kitchen!
No really, if men to do household chores, more power to them. However, when women volunteer to work outside the home, is it fair to push their chores on others? I say no.
If you don’t cook or clean there is no chance that I would be willing to share my lofty patent attorney salary. Hey, your competition is fearce.
“When women volunteer to work outside the home, is it fair to push their chores on others?”
So, when a woman has a job/career, it is her ‘volunteering to work outside the home’ and her ‘pushing her chores onto others’? You are all kinds of sexist.
You’re an attorney who can’t spell a simple word like ‘fierce’. Somebody is lying.
Humph…the “competition” can have you.
In five years, you will be complaining about your ex-wife who cooked and cleaned to snag you and how she stopped only to start spending your money who now demands mucho dinero for alimony. Hopefully your ‘fearce’ lawyering skills can help avoid that.
Seriously though, the average man appreciates a woman with a job helping with house costs. The average man doesn’t see his wife as a housekeeper to have sex with. He sees her as another human being that he cares deeply about. The average man has no problem helping with chores besides women aren’t making men get in the kitchen and clean the bathroom AND mow the lawn. They are asking you to pitch in. Like others said, the competition can have you if you are too selfish and inconsiderate to do things as small as wash the dishes or vacuum the hall.
“You’re an attorney who can’t spell a simple word like ‘fierce’. Somebody is lying.”
I’m confused, help me understand you. Are you calling me a sh!tty lawyer who can neither spell and also engages in puffery? Or is your first statement a question (in which case it lacks a question mark) and the second your argument (built on a few characters in a blog response)? Let’s just put that one to the side for now. I don’t want to be rude.
The fact of the matter remains. Working +60 hours a week does not leave me (or other associates) much time for domestic duties. So, her choice is either to get her @$$ back into the kitchen or she can take her “strong and independent” @$$ and leave the loft. No love lost, I’ll just call the maid and she can do it.
“Like others said, the competition can have you if you are too selfish and inconsiderate to do things as small as wash the dishes or vacuum the hall.”
Unfortunately, that is not reality. Have you been inhaling the fumes from your burnt bra? You may want to get that checked out, but that would require a trip to the clinic.
If a man afforded me the lifestyle to stay at home…I would be a cooking, cleaning sonnnnmofa..lol…I already do it for myself anyway…but if we are both working it has to be shared responsibility.
@Leonard
So the competition is the maid? Pshh… the maid can have you too. It’s not even about being too “strong or independent”. Your 60+ hour workweek doesn’t trump your woman’s 60+ hour workweek. You both contribute to the bills and chores that need to be managed so you both should be putting in work towards those bills and chores. “Many hands make light work” on all fronts. Otherwise, I hope you cherish the moments you spend sharing your lofty salary with your maid(s).
@ Leornard,
If I was your wife, and you used that tone with me, there is definitely going to be problems. If I work significantly less hours than you, of course, even without us having to discuss it-I’d probably pull more weight in the area of household chores than you. I would be doing out of support, and certainly not out of obligation. There is absolutely NO way on earth you are going to have such a crass and dismissive attitude-as my husband, telling me what to do, or I’ll get the maid. The fug I look like?! C’mon, accord me respect!