More Women Are Breadwinners, But They Still Can’t Get Out Of The Kitchen

[aviv]

Women are a growing part of the American workforce. In the last 25 years, the number of working women has grown by 44.2 percent, while 59.4 percent of working-age women are currently in the labor force. Sixty percent of women are the primary or co-bread winner for their household.

But despite those historic numbers, most women are still left doing

Comments

[randomtasks]

Honestly, it baffles me that working mothers tolerate this because my mother absolutely did not. I was raised by a SAHD who did everything from cooking to cleaning to doing fixer uppers around the house, he even painted my nails whenever I wanted him to when my mom worked 13 hour work days so there's no reason why men can't do those things. The men who complains about how they CAN'T do household duties are lying. They DON'T want to do it so they're basically trying to complain their way out of it.

[madskellig]

The men who complains about how they CAN'T do household duties are lying. They DON'T want to do it so they're basically trying to complain their way out of it.

Yup. And it's sad how effective it is, so many of my friends just accept that their SO can't do anything household related without fucking it up and stop questioning it.

Luckily that shit won't work on me because I was raised by a single dad who managed to somehow figure out how to sew and iron curtains, cook dinner every night, keep a clean house, braid me and my sisters hair, bake cinnamon buns and birthday cakes, etc... without any mystical woman-only skills.

[hellotreetops]

Your dad sounds amazing. :)

[romp]

mystical woman-only skills

That's a good point: perpetuating the idea of housework being women-only hurts men as well as women.

[softxasxsilence]

um not really

[chaya]

men benefit from this idea because they have an excuse to shove domestic work off on women, which frees them to focus on their career and personal enjoyment.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

[romp]

Did you think I said men and women are hurt equally?

I have 2 sons and they're being raised to be functioning adults as well as good partners. To teach them to be manipulative and expect someone else to care for them when they're perfectly able would be hurting them, in my opinion.

[softxasxsilence]

why even bother mentioning that ~it hurts men too if the hurt men experience is being stunted in their personal growth on the way to best person ever and the hurt women experience negatively impacts nearly every aspect of their lives?

men receive a net benefit - they have some costs but ultimately gain more than they lose. don't try to refocus discussions of how sexism harms women to mention that oh men get hurt too!!!!, it's asinine

[romp]

I was responding to the person who was raised by her single father. I think that's okay. I appreciate that you want to police everyone's reactions to make sure it's doesn't become About the Men but I believe my reaction was a fair one.

As I already said, I have a real and practical reason for my reaction. And it wasn't to you or the article so I don't believe I was refocusing or derailing. Sometimes I talk about MEN and mention MEN and that's okay.

[softxasxsilence]

you responded to someone talking about their father being proof that men aren't fundamentally incapable of housework to try to make some point about how it hurts men. i don't really see how it's at all relevant to what you responded to, at least not the way you phrased it

and, again, men aren't harmed. they have a net benefit even after the costs in character or whatever else they pay. if they didn't, why would they work so hard to perpetuate it?

[skellington1]

Hooray for good examples.

When I was in elementary school my mom stayed at home and my dad worked, but when I was smaller mom worked to put my dad through law school, and he was home more often and had larger chunks of free time (also chunks of 14 hour days, but feast-or-famine is how school schedules work). When I was four I thought all mommies worked and daddies went to school.

Dad was the one who cooked dinner and sewed my clown costume for halloween out of old bedsheets. Granted, he did it all on zig-zag stitch because he didn't know how to switch it, but he DID it.

[odannygirl7]

Luckily that shit won't work on me because I was raised by a single dad who managed to somehow figure out how to sew and iron curtains, cook dinner every night, keep a clean house, braid me and my sisters hair, bake cinnamon buns and birthday cakes, etc... without any mystical woman-only skills.

Same with my father. (even before my parents got divorced. my mother didn't work and she didn't bother doing anything around the house either.) He used to joke that he had ruined me for men since my standards were now way too high for the average joe.

[kyra_neko_rei]

The men who complains about how they CAN'T do household duties are lying. They DON'T want to do it so they're basically trying to complain their way out of it.

Can't do it, suck at it disastrously, don't know when to do it, "didn't see the mess," "forgot."

And even when you CAN get them to do the work, oftentimes the amount of reminding, nagging, and repeatedly giving instructions ends up being a chore in and of itself.