A friend of mine sent me a link to an article, backed up by lots of data, stating that boyfriends do more housework them husbands. It also found that wives do more housework that girlfriends.
Interesting.
The article does indicate that in both married an cohabiting couples, women do more housework than men. It is just that in married households, wives do even more.
“Marriage as an institution seems to have a traditionalizing effect on couples—even couples who see men and women as equal,” said co-researcher Shannon Davis, a sociologist at George Mason University in Virginia.
Does this match your experience?
Do you think this is because before marriage men are trying harder to impress, and after marriage women are trying harder to maintain the relationship? Or is it just that people who get married, in general, are more traditional in the first place?
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6 comments:
Absolutley!
In general, I think men have a very high thresold of clutter. Housekeeping consumes an awful lot of time if its done right and keeping everything immaculate is even tougher. As a true bachelor I'd rather be out and about while the weather is nice and save all of the household chores for a rainy day when I have nothing better to do. If you are married or living together its an entirely different story.
My ex liked things very neat and probably tended to clean before I considered the house messy. However, she hated bugs, grime, etc, so I got all the outdoor and car care jobs by default and helped with the indoor chores often. Perhaps it is the choice of responsibilities that skews things this way? Then again, I may not have cleaned to her "standards" and she would have had to do it again anyway. ;-)
I think its a matter of having different standards of cleanliness. Plus when husbands do clean around the house, many wives feel compelled to redo it. So of course they end up doing more. Just a joke...honest.
I must have had the oddest relationship when it came to housework....my ex cleaned more than I did. But, he was a fanatic about everything (no really, the screws on our lightswitch covers were adjusted all the time so that the line was facing straight up). I was more the caregiver for the children, and he was more the neat freak.
Maybe I have a high threshold for clutter, or maybe I just have my priorities elsewhere. I do have times when I go through the house doing the "white tornado" immitation.
I think being raised in a "traditional" household (think - June and Ward Cleaver) that had something to do with my beliefs after getting married. Now I get to do it all! :) Interesting commentary, though, after my mom passed away, my dad (Ward) said that he wished that he had helped her more around the house.
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