Women continue to spend far more time than men do on household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. But new research shows that men and women do not hold identical attitudes about every household obligation. They often prefer the current duty roster.
In a journal article for
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences,
psychology professors asked 323 people between the ages of 18 and 23 and 113 people between the ages of 31 and 46 to rate their attitudes toward 58 household and 40 childcare-related tasks. So, for example, participants were asked how much they “hated” or “loved” washing the dishes on a sliding scale, and they were asked whether they preferred the task was completed by “Always Partner” or “Always Me.”
It turns out that there are a lot of household tasks that women prefer doing themselves, including shopping for children and coordinating child care and play dates. There were also many tasks women preferred their partners do for them, including taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, and maintaining the family’s vehicles.
Of course, there were some tasks that both genders hated, including laundry and doing taxes. But there were also tasks both genders enjoyed, including cooking, baking, and grocery shopping (although women preferred to do the grocery shopping themselves).
One item that was surprising, maybe even disappointing, was that there was not a single childcare task that men liked more than women. This list includes some truly wonderful experiences, such as reading bedtime stories, talking with children about their day, bringing children to the park, playing with children, and napping.
To each his own — and I’m sure everyone’s preferences differ. But for me, there are very few things better in life than a good Saturday afternoon nap with a baby on your chest. I would definitely file that task under the “Always Me” category.
