Men who do housework are more likely to get the girl. But why?
The headline: "Men Who Do Housework are More Likely to Get the Girl." (I'm resisting the temptation to say: "you hear that, men?")
A study at Oxford correlated attitudes towards men and women's responsibilities with marriage and cohabiting rates in a number of developed countries. They constructed an "egalitarian index" based on responses to questionnaires about gender, housework, and childcare responsibilities.* Women of similar age and educational background were compared across participating countries, controling for factors like the rates of female unemployment in those countries.
The study found that: "women living in less egalitarian countries were between 20 and 50 per cent less likely to be living with a man than comparable women living in a more egalitarian country. For instance, the findings would predict that the average British woman was 8.5 percentage points more likely than a similar Australian woman to be in a live-in relationship." (Britain and Australia are 0.24 points apart on the egalitarian index).
Wow. That's a pretty big difference.
Instant replay/quick summary of the findings:
1) "women living in countries with the highest proportion of egalitarian men are more likely to marry or live with a man."
2) "a more egalitarian woman in any country is less likely than a less egalitarian woman to set up home with a man because, everything else being equal, most men would choose a woman who they can rely on to do housework and look after the children. While egalitarian men seem to be viewed as a better bet by women, egalitarian women are seen as a less safe bet by men."
Here's how the story was reported:
"Dr Sevilla-Sanz said: 'In egalitarian countries you might, in principle, expect to see women preferring to remain single rather than face the prospect of spending more time doing household chores. However, this study shows that in egalitarian countries there is less social stigma attached to men doing what was traditionally women's work. For instance, if paternity leave is the social norm, more men take it. This leads to men in egalitarian societies taking on more of a domestic role so the likelihood of forming a harmonious household becomes greater, resulting in a higher proportion of couples setting up households in these countries."
In other words: women would rather be single than do chores. Men are more willing to do housework in egalitarian countries, therefore a) relationships are more harmonious, leading to more live-in relationships and b) women are more likely to want to live with men, knowing they won't have to do the housework all the time.
So, should American men immediately go into a dish-washing, dinner-cooking, floor-vaccuuming frenzy? Not purely on the basis of this study. Notice that it didn't look at attitudes about marriage or relationships, which might be complicating factors in the chain of causation. Maybe women living in more egalitarian countries see themselves as "sexually liberated," and are less likely to want to live with men, or perhaps even marry or be in a monogamous relationship. Maybe fewer of them want to settle down and raise a family in the traditional manner--or they're willing to put it off longer in order to further their careers. These motivations would all make women living in more egalitarian countries less likely to live with a man--whether or not men are willing to do the housework.
This is why, although I use articles like this as a jumping off point to find out about a topic, I try to take them with a grain of salt until I've read the study in question.
Your thoughts? What do you think is going on here? How would you test your theory?
*In case you're wondering how the countries ranked: Norway was first, followed in descending order by Sweden, Great Britain, United States, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Austria and Australia.
A study at Oxford correlated attitudes towards men and women's responsibilities with marriage and cohabiting rates in a number of developed countries. They constructed an "egalitarian index" based on responses to questionnaires about gender, housework, and childcare responsibilities.* Women of similar age and educational background were compared across participating countries, controling for factors like the rates of female unemployment in those countries.
The study found that: "women living in less egalitarian countries were between 20 and 50 per cent less likely to be living with a man than comparable women living in a more egalitarian country. For instance, the findings would predict that the average British woman was 8.5 percentage points more likely than a similar Australian woman to be in a live-in relationship." (Britain and Australia are 0.24 points apart on the egalitarian index).
Wow. That's a pretty big difference.
Instant replay/quick summary of the findings:
1) "women living in countries with the highest proportion of egalitarian men are more likely to marry or live with a man."
2) "a more egalitarian woman in any country is less likely than a less egalitarian woman to set up home with a man because, everything else being equal, most men would choose a woman who they can rely on to do housework and look after the children. While egalitarian men seem to be viewed as a better bet by women, egalitarian women are seen as a less safe bet by men."
Here's how the story was reported:
"Dr Sevilla-Sanz said: 'In egalitarian countries you might, in principle, expect to see women preferring to remain single rather than face the prospect of spending more time doing household chores. However, this study shows that in egalitarian countries there is less social stigma attached to men doing what was traditionally women's work. For instance, if paternity leave is the social norm, more men take it. This leads to men in egalitarian societies taking on more of a domestic role so the likelihood of forming a harmonious household becomes greater, resulting in a higher proportion of couples setting up households in these countries."
In other words: women would rather be single than do chores. Men are more willing to do housework in egalitarian countries, therefore a) relationships are more harmonious, leading to more live-in relationships and b) women are more likely to want to live with men, knowing they won't have to do the housework all the time.
So, should American men immediately go into a dish-washing, dinner-cooking, floor-vaccuuming frenzy? Not purely on the basis of this study. Notice that it didn't look at attitudes about marriage or relationships, which might be complicating factors in the chain of causation. Maybe women living in more egalitarian countries see themselves as "sexually liberated," and are less likely to want to live with men, or perhaps even marry or be in a monogamous relationship. Maybe fewer of them want to settle down and raise a family in the traditional manner--or they're willing to put it off longer in order to further their careers. These motivations would all make women living in more egalitarian countries less likely to live with a man--whether or not men are willing to do the housework.
This is why, although I use articles like this as a jumping off point to find out about a topic, I try to take them with a grain of salt until I've read the study in question.
Your thoughts? What do you think is going on here? How would you test your theory?
*In case you're wondering how the countries ranked: Norway was first, followed in descending order by Sweden, Great Britain, United States, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Austria and Australia.