Men and Women and the Sharing of Household Chores

At work one day while complaining about housework, a friend of mine referred to picking up dog poop in my back yard as "man's work". While I am sure this was an innocent remark it made me wonder, is there man's work and women's work? Which member of the opposite sex does more? I went out to see what people thought.

It seems that June Cleaver started the image of the woman who stayed at home, cleaned the house, took care of the kids, and Ward Cleaver set the standard for the men. He went to work, mowed the lawn, and took care of the basic repairs around the house.

Are The Cleavers Still The Models For The Modern Day?

I am in no way saying that June and Ward had the wrong idea, but it seems the traditional family over the years has changed, but the gender roles seem to have stayed the same. Studies have shown that educated men do more chores than educated women, but they also show that women who work do more chores than men. In my conversations with both sexes I received the same answer from both. Both men and women alike believe householdchores should be shared equally, but both sexes also agree that women seem to do more cleaning and cooking and men do more yard work and small household repairs.

What Were The Chores Like In Your House Growing Up?

My childhood was different than anyone else's that I grew up with. My mother went to work and my father stayed home and took care of my sisters and I. Therefore the gender roles in my house were very reversed, we all had chores to do, but I remember my dad doing most of the cooking and laundry. On the weekends my mother did most of the yard work, and my father did all the cleaning, house work, and cooking. When I grew older it was hard for me tofall into the role of the happy housewife, because growing up I never saw the model of the happy housewife displayed for me. I thought my husband should do the cooking, cleaning, and laundry, and all I had to do was make sure the kids were clean and fed. This led to many a disagreement between him and I. He was used to his mother cleaning and cooking, so we came from very different backgrounds it took me a very long time to accept my role in the household I have now. I had to begin to clean and cook and do laundry, and force myself to do it every day. Now my husband and I share the chores, but he still seems to do more than I do.

Is it all just an excuse?

One of my friends that I spoke with, said that a nephew of hers called something "women's work when he didn't want to do it. Maybe it is that way for all of us maybe my friend declared picking up dog poop as "man's work" because that was her excuse for not doing things she didn't want to do. Either way there does not seem to be a clear definition , the studies seem to be very unbalanced as well, men who are college educated do more, but women who work do more. The friends I talked to say, there is no definition of women's work or men's work and that they share work evenly, but at the same time say women tend to do more cleaning and cooking, and men tend to do more maintenance, and yard work. So I think this ends still in a question, who does more around the house? Men or Women? and is there a clear distinctive difference between who does what chores?