Now men have a reason to pick up their dirty laundry.
The more housework the man does, the less likely it is that he will be served with divorce papers.
This is not a small issue when you consider the dozens of hours a week devoted to keeping a house tidy and the hundreds of hours couples spend being irritated by dirty dishes, dusty TVs, and overflowing bins.
The mess around the house is created by both people and in theory it is both of their responsibilities, but you wouldn’t assume that from watching TV. When a man does housework he either does it so ineptly a woman must step in and help or his bitch of a wife is cracking a whip over him while eating bon-bons and talking on the phone.
But who does what when is a real issue that couples have to wrestle with.
“Never mind the heartbreak over infidelity, what about the backbreak behind housework statistics? Men: four to five hours a week; single women: seven hours; women with husbands or live-in partners: more than twelve hours.”
Barbara Ellen, from the Guardian, says that the problem is actually women enabling men—mothers doing laundry for their sons and girlfriends smiling indulgently as they pick up after their boyfriends. If boys wanted to be taken seriously, then they need to make up and start taking care of themselves.
“For the umpteenth time, men have to ask themselves how they want their women to regard them. As strong, capable, mature equals, unafraid to get their hands dirty? Or basically another child, an irritating, bone-idle, overgrown child? Men also have to decide who their real (lady) friends are? Are those women who expect them to do their fair share really foul nags, or merely stating a reasonable fact? Similarly, are those who let them avoid housework, who simperingly agree that it’s woman’s work, a dream come true, or control freaks, scary “wife-mummy” hybrids, who want to undermine their maturity and keep them as dribbling little-boy puppies, who can’t fend for themselves?”
I have to wonder whether this is true for the men who pick up after their wives. In my house, while I rule the kitchen with an iron ladle, my husband is often the one who quietly goes about the business of taking out the garbage, getting the laundry done and generally ensuring that we don’t wallow in filth.
What the study really reveals, of course, is that couples who take on responsibilities together are more likely to have a strong marriage. Which means that I am going to have to start to do my share.
Thanks again, science! If only there was a machine that loaded the dishwasher or did the laundry!
