by Rebecca Mikulin

Created on: June 02, 2009

Why should husbands do housework? Perhaps a better question is, why are husbands NOT doing housework? Come on ladies, we all know how it goes: the husband works a full 8-12 -hour day and comes home tired from being on his feet all day and immediately sacks out on the couch with the television on. At the end of the work week, he wastes no time in sleeping in or finding fun things to do with his buddies. After all, it's his day off!

This is not to say that all men swear off housework, though the vast majority seems to have no idea what kind of work goes into keeping a household and are content with only doing their ten minutes of cleaning every other day. Every person lives with varying levels of housework-phobes, with a rare few finding a perfect balance of domestic and career-oriented work. What follows is a look at partner imbalance in domestic chores that can apply to either males or females, though males seem to be the most common offender.

Let's look at the problem. Complaints have been heard from wives, girlfriends, and domestic partners in every corner and in every degree. The biggest problem seems to be in the cases of a stay-at-home, where the working partner does their eight hours and then comes home and thinks the other person should be doing all the work because they're "sitting around the house all day." In some cases this occurs when the working partner doesn't fully appreciate how much work goes into caring for the children, keeping the house up, or a stay-at-home job.

Sometimes the imbalance even exists where both partners are working full-time. Some say that the imbalance arises from centuries-long gender roles that dictate that males are the providers while females are the cleaners and childcare providers. Still others argue that men, especially younger men, are used to being taken care of by a woman (their mother, or matronly figure) and are hard-wired to think they must continue to be taken care of by a woman.

Whatever the reasons for inequality in domestic tasks, it is a trend that needs to stop. In any home, all of the inhabitants of the house should be responsible for keeping it clean. If everyone cleans up their own messes and then regularly participates in daily and weekly chores, a clean house and domestic tranquility will ensue.

Where these domestic inequalities exist, both partners need to sit down and discuss what tasks need to be done and who should do them. Stay-at-homes may find it beneficial to itemize the tasks they do

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