Aug 11, 2013

Housework: the eternal battle

I absolutely loved this piece in The Guardian Comment Is Free today:
Housework: let's come clean about who does the chores by Barbara Ellen.

The gist: even though people are doing less housework than they used to, women are still doing more than men. (I know, you're shocked, right?)

First up, I liked that she makes no apologies for tackling what is so often derided as a middle-class or privileged women's issue, but straight-up calls the housework battleground "this incredibly important arena (equality in your home – where you live)". 

Ellen's main point: It's as unfair as it ever was, when women are doing more housework than men, no matter how many minutes or hours that is.
Housework is not about the amount of hours: it's about ratios and percentages – the true mathematics of domestic parity. Even self-described housewives should not be working nights and weekends if their partners aren't. 

What of "the future", when most chores will be done by robots and machines?  She is doubtful (as are we all), but:
Even if it does happen, it's obvious who'll be doing all the button-pressing. Even if we get that farcical two hours down to a preposterous two minutes, it's evident whose preposterous two minutes they'd be. 

Sing it, sister.

4 comments:

  1. I do the bulk of the housework around here although my husband has stepped up to the plate and taken on the cooking and shopping roles. It's sad that those "accepted" roles still exist (where women do more than men) but maybe the tide will turn in years to come....we'll have to wait and see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely things have improved, and the fact that these days more men and women share child care and work has made a difference. We hope!

      Delete
  2. I'm no help here since I enjoy doing my housework. On days that I can be bothered that is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish I enjoyed it!
      Though I do love the feeling after I've done it.

      Delete

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