Are the traditionally male chores considered when dividing labor around the house?

Question

Like home repairs,mowing the lawn,taking out the garbage, killing bugs and other dangerous work.

Answer 1

I think there have been but you need to do what is best for you and your family.  I liked mowing the lawn because it was good exercise but my husband took out the trash because I said it was icky and for boys to do.  Sometimes we took turns on things.  It also depends on your skill.

Most importantly take care of each other, talk about it and make sure both sides agree.

Answer 2

I have 3 rules for my husband 1. love me 2. respect me & finally 3. TAKE OUT THE d**n GARBAGE!!!

Answer 3

Lol.  Since when is taking out garbage "dangerous work"?  I do it all the time and have never been injured.

Some things need to be done multiple times every day, or every day,  or nearly every day: cooking, washing up, grocery shopping, household cleaning, laundry, changing sheets & pillowcases,.packing lunches, child care stuff like bathing... how often do eaves need to be cleaned, once a year?  once every two years?  I can clean eaves just as well as any guy.  

In all my years growing up I remember my father did roofing work exactly ONCE.  So let's see: 2 weeks out of 20 years...

The daily chores & weekly chores obviously take up the most time, by FAR.  There is no contest.

Answer 4

I grew up in a house for 14 years without any siblings...then along came my sister.  As a little girl and teenager, I have made repairs (very good with power tools), mowing, trash take out, bug killer, mouse trap maintenance, cleaning windows on a ladder...so my point is, how are these traditional chores of a male?  Now that I am married, my husband takes out the trash, not because I expect him to, he just takes it upon himself, he als mows the lawn... I try to do it and he tells me to "go on".  So, yes, I don't know how to answer your question...tee hee

Answer 5

I used to think I was being sexist for expecting my boyfriend to clean the litter box...until I remembered that I do the other 95% of the chores in our apartment and spend tons of time cleaning up after him and doing his laundry and dishes. I think it's fair I get a break from one of the nastier chores in return, since he does so much less to help out.

I do ask him to help me hang stuff, but only because his father was a carpenter and thus he's got a lot more hands-on experience with studs, drywall, and mollies than I do.

Answer 6

I don't know about you but the last time I cut my grass Charley popped out.  I had to knife him.

Answer 7

Well, the thing about traditional 'male' chores is that they tend to be things that only need doing occasionally, whereas the traditional 'women's' chores are generally things that are ongoing and need doing all the time, cooking, washing, cleaning up generally etc.

When both partners work full-time, it seems that women strangely often get fed up with having to do all the 'traditional women's chores' when they are also doing the 'traditional men's chore' of earning a living.

This is very odd because in 'The Feminine Mystique' Betty Friedan said that housework only took about an hour a day, and she confidently believed that women could do a full-time job and knock off the housework easily without the need of masculine help.

However, this seems to be an arrangement that a lot of women are dissatisfied with, for some reason.  There was a question on the Marriage and Divorce section yesterday from a woman who is a doctor.  her husband is also a doctor and they work the same hours apparently, yet he expects her to do all the housework, cooking, etc as well.  She is very fed up with this, despite the assurance of Ms Friedan that it's a doddle.

I don't know why, but somehow Ms Friedan's notion that a woman can be both a career woman and a housewife with perfect ease does not seem to have been realised in many cases.  i could not say why this is.

Answer 8

Not really.  I enjoy being outdoors, so I do most of the yard work (mowing, trimming, weeding etc).  My husband is a neat freak so he does most of the house cleaning.  When it comes to home repairs, he hates anything to do with plumbing - he thinks it's gross.  So I do any plumbing-related repairs (it helps that my dad is a plumber so I know the basics).  He enjoys electrical work, so that's his turf.  We each work to our own strengths as much as possible.

And since when is taking out the garbage and killing bugs dangerous?

Answer 9

Male chores?  You mean they come with labels?  My husband mowed the lawn the first two years we were married.  Then we hired it done just like the housework.  

I was the handy person.   If I didn't do it -  the handy man service did.   I enjoyed the creative aspects of home improvements.    Taking out the garbage is dangerous work?   Just where do you live.

Elf what kind of chain saw do you have?  I'm looking for a new  drill - cordless any ideas?

Answer 10

That's a very fair exchange.  However, incases of emergencies; I've learned a few tricks of the trade, such as plumbing.

Answer 11

My hubby and I were both shovelling gravel to grade the deck today. We can't divide chores by gender because somethings need two people and we're the only two people around.

Answer 12

We don't divide any labor.  We hire everyone for everything.  Okay, I take out the garbage and he wheels the cans to the curb.

Answer 13

The majority of US women leave those chores to the man.

Feminism be damned.

Answer 14

Bugs come and go, and the need for repairs is conditional, so the only regular chores that you've listed are moving the lawn (in warm weather only, about twice a month, perhaps on a riding mower) and taking out the trash, which only occurs once or twice a week and takes about 30 seconds.  Making dinner happens every day and can take an hour or more of preperation time, so you have to look not just at the type of chore or the number of chores but at how often they are required and how long and involved they are.  Cleaning-related activities should be divided equally.

By the way, taking out the garbage isn't a male chore, and cooking and cleaning have become gender-equal.

Answer 15

How is any of that dangerous?

EDIT-Elvis--I've mowed the lawn...did it when I was kid, too. My parents believed in NOT dividing the chores "by gender."

I've helped with home improvement-I helped my husband lay tile, I do ALL of the touch up painting every six months, and I did most of the excavation and stone work on the pond we put in, and laid most of the brick on our retaining wall. My husband and I always work on home improvement projects together.

I kill bugs. What am I supposed to do? Wait 'til he gets home?

Oh yeah, and I sawed and removed a tree that fell in our yard.

I didn't consider any of it dangerous...and unless you live where the bugs you kill could be poisonous scorpions, I don't see how it could be.

EDIT-Roofing? SURELY most people hire someone for this...who actually crawls up on their roof to repair it? Make a claim with your insurance (if it was weather related) and let the professionals handle it. I can't imagine that even a few people do this. I've certainly never known ANYONE to fix their own roof. And none of the other stuff is dangerous.

Answer 16

Not particularly.

Both my husband and I are neat freaks and are capable of cleaning up any messes we make BEFORE the house gets dirty.

As far as "dangerous" stuff goes, well I can mow the lawn, take out the garbage, remove bugs from my house, do minor home and car repairs. Those chores go to whoever can get to them at the moment.

Most stuff we do together anyway. That way we are still at least spending some time together, any other major stuff goes to the professionals.

Answer 17

lol.. well between my husband and I, I definitely do the "male" chores like mowing the lawn and assembling toys/furniture and even household repairs. My husband is not at all mechanically gifted and I grew up with a father who could do just about everything around the house.

I have four children, two boys and two girls and their chores are not at all gender specific. They all take care of their own things and help equally with the others (except the youngest... he's two but even he like to "help").

I think it's different for many households. I've known a lot of women who do the "tough" jobs around the house. If I had to wait for my husband to fix things, mow the lawn, take out the garbage and kill bugs.... things would NEVER get done lol. I'd much prefer he helped me with the dishes or laundry and my husband is a big manly b*****d lol.

Like I said it's different in many households. I don't think any family will fit any specific mold.

Answer 18

They are at my house.  My favorite arrangement is me mowing grass while hubby scrubs the toilet.  Unfortunately, I end up doing both more often than I'd like.

Wanna compare chain saws?

Edit: Are you suggesting that chores defined as dangerous should be counted differently than non-dangerous chores?

Cause if you wanna go there I will tell you about the hazards in an average kitchen...

Work is work...somebody has to do it.  If you have special skills that can save the family money, that's worth something.

Answer 19

When I was growing up, I never knew there was such a thing as gender specific chores. I grew up without brothers so my sister and I did all those things and never thought anything of them. I mowed the lawn (still do) and took out the garbage (which I also still do). Even today, I'm the one who gets rid of the bugs. I'm reluctant to kill them so I pick them up and take them outside. My entire family wonders how I can pick up spiders with my bare hands. As long as they are not poisonous, they don't bother me.

Answer 20

I tell my husband I married him to reach stuff on the top shelves of the kitchen cabinets and to kill bugs! (esp spiders)

In our house he does MOST of the outside and I do MOST of the inside.  There are exceptions he does the laundry and I take out the garbage.  It's all what works for you.  

Also, he does 99% of house repairs or improvements but ONLY because he doesn't really want anyone else (including me) doing them.  Even if it would mean he'd only be left with a few things to finish instead of a million (but let's not go there, that's a whole other answer)

Hope this helps, wasn't EXACTLY sure what you were looking for.  Take care!

Answer 21

Yeah I have seem very few women mow the yard clean the gutters fix the leaky sink.

Wendy - what of the male chores have you done?

Wendy - very nice but a chain saw can be very dangerous even when used properly. Anyways just because you do it an a handful don't make it the standard. Just makes you different.