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

[strandedinaber]

Doesn't surprise me. My mother has always handled things like the laundry and cooking and so on, although my sister and I help with cooking when we're living at home.

That said though, my father has always done all the garden and house maintenance. So while he doesn't have additional responsibilities on a day-to-day basis when he does do stuff around the house he's working on it non-stop for a week or more. It more or less evens out in the long run. And means we don't have to eat his cooking.

[strandedinaber]

Well, yeah, that's true. But timewise it probably evens out - at least it does for us. Between my mother and sister - who lives at home - they probably spend 1 1/2 hours a day each doing cooking/laundry/ironing, that kind of thing. Dad won't do as much during the week but he'll spend 10 hours every weekend doing something with regard to the house.

But that's just what works for them. I 100% agree that overall the balance is completely disproportionate, based on these figures.

[roseofjuly]

My dad had it written in his brain that men were supposed to do outside stuff and women were supposed to do inside stuff, so he assigned me and my sister the chore of washing dishes and mopping and sweeping the floor while my brother took out the trash and mowed the lawn.

My mom later mixed things up with the indoor chores, but never the outdoor chores. The people in my family seriously believe that women are not supposed to take out the garbage. I noticed my aunt's trash can was full one day and went to take out the bag, and she stopped me and said "Oh no, let your cousin do that. That's man's work." I asked her who she thought took out my garbage, given that me and my roommate are both women.

And to this day I do not know how to operate a lawn mower.

[skellington1]

'Lawn Care' was mentioned under the heading of 'household chores,' so the quip about the lawn mower is off base. There's a valid question about one-off maintenance jobs, but a solid week building a deck once in five years is not actually comparable to time spent on basic chores every day.

For my part -- and I don't live with my boyfriend, for the record -- I'd rather do the 'hard labor' (and, really... most pipe-fixing/drain cleaning? not actually 'hard labor) than the daily slob stuff. It should be an individual question rather than a gender one.

[meran_flash]

Some people live in apartments, you know.

[quixotic_coffee]

I would welcome data on that. In my experience woman still do more of the work, not to mention plenty of women mow the yard themselves, and other work that's considered men's work. Not to mention there's only so many times one paints the house, or builds a deck. And that is work that isn't even done in all households, whereas everyone eats and most people clean.

[lone_concertina]

I'm so thankful for my feminist-friendly husband. I'm the primary breadwinner and he automatically assumed household duties without there being any sort of discussion about it. And when we found out I was pregnant, he told me it was entirely my decision and he would support it whatever the outcome.

I shouldn't have to be thankful for this sort of stuff because it should just be how things work. But it isn't, so I am thankful.

[lollycunt]

Yeah, these data are presented in the article that makes it sound worse than the actual numbers suggest. Women do slightly more work around the house when you look at hours/day, but based on these numbers men generally contribute slightly more to the finances. If only 60% of households have the woman as a breadwinner or significant contributor, that's 40% where the woman's income makes no significant financial contribution... I'm inclined to think they didn't include data on how many households where the men have no significant contribution because it's likely much less than 40%, because that doesn't fit into their narrative.

So yeah, it's not equal, but there does appear to be a give and take aspect going on where it basically evens out.

[meran_flash]

You're getting really boring really fast.

[skellington1]

I am not proud to admit that I suspect my boyfriend and I spend roughly equal time on cleaning (we don't live together)... because I spend less than average by dint of being, well, lazy and with too many hobbies.

It'd be nice to hit equality with a clean house, instead of equality with a dirty one. :P

I suspect for us it'll work out okay when we live together, because he likes to cook and assumes the brunt of cooking duties whenever we're together. I tend to get involved in home maintenance. (He cooks! She hammers! Together they fight gender roles you thought had died in the 1960s!).

[pandaseal]

I love how so many men "just happen" to have personalities that mean they're not good at things like household chores.

[chaya]

RIGHT?

[pandaseal]

It's amazing how these personality issues just conveniently show up in a way that enforces the status quo.

*cough*bullshit*cough*

[homasse]

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuup.

Amazing, that. Such a coincidence.