Interested in an equal marriage? Study finds married men do less housework than live-in boyfriends? Why?

Question

This article title tells you the results of their research study with more than 17,000 people in 28 countries: "Married Men Really Do Do Less Housework Than Live-in Boyfriends": http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827174300.htm

According to study researcher Davis, "The key finding of the study is that it suggests the institution of marriage changes the division of labor". Why did she say that? According to the article: Among couples who believed in equality-if they lived together-the housework was evenly divided; but if they married-the woman did more of the housework.

What's been your experience if you've been married and/or have lived with someone? If both partners believed in equality: did the female partner do more or less or the same amount of housework-and did it matter if you lived together or were married?

Answer 1

Of course they do, they're a room mate.

I'm quite sure that a study would find that married men stick around longer, contribute more money to the household (because they are motivated to earn more), and are more devoted fathers.  

Most women I know would make that trade.

Answer 2

well from experience its just how it works....that's how it is in my house, my dads house, my uncles house.

we weren't always like this tho....it just you always clean so why would we stop ya!?

-no offense not all women are the same...most are tho

Answer 3

Married men are spending more time at work to pay for Cindy's braces and Little Johnny's baseballs outfits. When will feminists just stop bashing men in order to justify their selfish lifestyles? Heck, with today's divorce rates, these men should be applauded. I wonder if that study takes into account the fact that married people are more likely to live in homes and the husbands are out doing yard work. Do you ever see women mowing the lawn and putting up new storm drains? Yeah, neither do I.

Answer 4

according to recent research, women do 5x the amount of child care and 2 x the amount of housework.....

research also found that men had more leisure time.

and, that when men help women, the couple is happier and have more s*x.

when i grew up, mom did all the work in the house....she also worked at a paying job. dad mowed the lawn. i'm sorry but you cannot compare the amount of time betw the 2 & it is still like this -altho improved. so i dont want to hear about drain spouts and the like.  work in the house needs to be divided fairly - and certainly it's going to be different for all ppl, but the main idea is that it's divided fairly

Answer 5

I didn't read the article. I don't have to. I married my wife because I love her. Maybe she does more housework than me. Maybe she doesn't. We both work hard to make a living & to get by. If the toilet bowl need cleaning, one of us will do it.

Answer 6

Basically,  When we were single my wife let me do my own thing.  She did not advise me on what needed to be done and the proper way it should be done.  After we were married I had to do things her way.  I was no longer allowed to wash the dishes with a dishrag I had to use a sponge and then I still didn't get them clean enough.  I did my own wash myself for years.  Now I filled the washer to much.  I needed to add softener at the proper time.  I was taught to do ironing in the military where they were strict.  Yet my ironing was no good either.  So I stopped.  There is less complaining about my work and she seems happy to do it.  I still try to be the good guy from time to time by washing my own clothes or doing the dishes.  But the next day she'll spend the whole day doing all the laundry or clean every dish I set down so there's nothing for me to wash.  I think she was brain washed to think it is her job to do all the housework.

Answer 7

Maybe the type of people to get married are more traditional to begin with? Or maybe they're more likely to have kids (study doesn't mention this?), and the woman is more likely to stay at home > therefore makes sense that she does more housework.

I've lived with my boyfriend for several years and we share the housework. Probably I do more cleaning and he does more food shopping and cooking, just the way it pans out.

Answer 8

My wife and I have different roles in keeping house.  We do approximately the same amount (I think I do a 55% to 45%).  Ergo, I won't fit into this because I constantly pick up, I wash floors, scrub toilets, while my wife does laundry.

I think guys do less housework because they're married now and it's okay to not give full effort.  It's the same reason that many women let themselves go physically and no longer try as hard to maintain hard and tight bodies for their husbands.  They're married, so they can sit on the couch eating bonbons all day and it's fine.

My wife runs and exercises with me.

Answer 9

cause live in bouy friends are trying to impress you, husbands are ready to show there true colors

Answer 10

I have never lived with my husband before we were married.

It is stupid when there are studies about whether or not men do more/less house work. That isn't important. Couldn't they be spending their time and money on other things like feeding starving children in Sudan or funding $5000 for a family to adopt a child from war-torn Lyberia.

It isn't hard to spend 15 minutes a day and pick up the house alone. Your husband doesn't need to do it. Don't expect him to either. If he does it, he is telling you he loves you and wants to give you a break. Everyone would much rather do something out of love than to do something because someone is telling them to. My husband takes out the trash and does the "man jobs" I need done, but I never expect him to do anything else. He does though! He wants to help me out with the cleaning a lot. It is because he knows how hard it is the take care of a baby and clean at the same time.

Well...I better go. I need to clean my house before my husband gets home from work:)

EDIT @ Bobhikes: Your wife isn't brainwashed, she just enjoys cleaning and wants it done a certain way.

Answer 11

I think modern women/wives are to hung up on this housework issue. As someone who has been married for 12 years, I can honestly say my wife does more house work then me. However, I have an entirely different honey do list. Instead of looking at each individual chore, why not just designate certain jobs for the man and others for the woman. That's how my wife and I have it set up and it works out great.

Edit: Good point Sam

Answer 12

Once they marry you they no longer have to fake it.

For example, when dating my husband, I thought he enjoyed dancing and long walks in the park.

Once married, all such fakery was over.  He was like, boy, I'm glad I don't need to pretend to like that c**p anymore....

Same thing with work.

Answer 13

I lived with a jackasz for many years when I was single.  He was compulsively neat, which I am not, but he would die before he cleaned anything.  His style was to criticize me when I did it.  Mr. Yaga does not clean (once in awhile he'll do laundry if I'm not around) or do yard work or house maintenance.  We hire people for that, and pay them well.  Much better.  It's our contribution to small business owners.

Answer 14

Because I have to spend time cutting lawns, pruning trees, washing and servicing all the cars, painting the house, cleaning the gutters and all things associated with outside work. I do some interior chores But I also work 50 hours a week.

Let's compare everything then let's talk.

Answer 15

Before we were married, we both worked. That plays a huge role in how the chores are divided. there's no way i plan to leave the house the come home and do all the housework and be happy about it. But never either did I have to assign tasks to my then boyfriend. He just did what he felt like doing and I covered everything else. Though that doesn't sound fair, the only thing he would never do was the bathroom, but he also didn't nescessarilly clean everything else either. Now that we are married, have children, and I stay home to raise them our duties have switched up accordignly. I do the majority of the housework, he works out of the house during annoying hours missing family dinner and time with his kids! Now that doesn't mean my husband doesn't do anything. Like yesterday morning, he woke up with the kids (I'm currently pregnant and constantly tired), fed them, and then did the dishes I didn't do the night before. I never asked him, he just saw they needed to be done and did them. However, he will never make dinner. Just doesn't like it, but ask him to bake a sweet dessert and he's on it before you finished your sentence!!

I think it should also be added though, that he was raised as I was, that everything in the house is a family effort. Not one person do this job and another do their job because of s*x. Basically if his father and the boys that joined him finished whatever they were doing in the garage, came into the house to see mom was still trying to tackle whatever, everyone helped to get the job done so that the job was done. Plain and simple. We try for the same things. If my husband can't tackle a "man" job because he was working overtime and very tired, I will do the job without badgering him. It's called team work. Worrying about who should be doing what is a waste of time!!