Should housework be split between husband and wife?
For many generations women have always been the ones to cook and clean around the house. Why has it always been acceptable for the women to do chores but seen as abnormal if the woman wants to study and get an education for herself and no longer become the “norm” of a typical housewife? Society has accustomed for us to see the women in the kitchen and for the mother to take care of the newborns and the sick. Angela Davis states in “Woman Race and Class” Already, more men have begun to assist their partners around the house, some of them even devoting equal time to household chores. But how many of these men have liberated themselves from the assumption that housework is women’s work”? Davis states that housework is heavily women’s work but more men have been on the rise of helping their wife.
Even if the man helps out it’s seen as abnormal for a man to do chores. Should housework continue to be done only by women? Or should men and women split the work?
Many women do not let their husband help around the house because the woman was raised to do the chores around the house at such a young age. Men in most cases have been accustomed of having someone else such as their mother, sister, and/or wife do the housework. In this case the men do not realize about all the house work that needs to be done. Is it morally their fault that the men do not help around the house? In an article published in Telegraph written by Louisa Peacock, Sexism or ignorance? Men who fail to do housework often don’t see the need, Peacock states that sometimes men do not intentionally realize that they are not helping around the house it is just something they are not used to doing. In the eyes of many it is normal for the woman to do all the chores around the house, because it is seen as abnormal if they do not. What Louisa Peacock argues is the reason why men do not clean or help around the house is because of the lack of acknowledging the thought of women always cleaning. The men are not being sexist towards women doing all the chores but more of being ignorant over the fact that they do not realize that chores need to be done. Peacock uses an example that one of her friends did not throw the trash for a week to see if her husband would say something or throw it out himself without her having to tell her husband. It wasn’t until a week after that her husband decided to throw the trash once it had been overflowed. In this case the husband did not expect his wife to throw the trash out but he also didn’t realize that it needed to be done. The husband’s reaction towards not throwing the trash was more of an ignorant act as oppose to sexism. The husband still threw out the trash without having his wife to tell him to do so.
Even though the chores are mainly done by women, men should be able to help around the house without a problem. After all the house is shared by both the woman and the man and there should not be a reason why a man should feel ashamed to do chores around the house. But do women actually want their husband or partner to actually help around the house or do they just like to complain about it? In the article “Ladies: If You’re Upset That Your Partner Doesn’t Help You Around the House, The Answer Is Simple” written by Stephanie Castle she argues that even if men did help around the house the women would still complain about it. Why? Because the women are accustomed to cleaning or cooking a certain way so when their partner does it they still get bothered.
I couldn’t agree more with Castle; women love to complain that they are stuck with doing the chores around the house but get mad if their husband did the chores incorrectly. In my perspective the thought of having someone else cleaning my house does not satisfy me, I like to do things my own way, so if I had my partner cook or clean a different way I know I would not like that. Neither would I complain that my husband or partner is not helping me out.
