Divide Your Homework Evenly to Maintain a Healthy Relationship
If you’ve just stepped out of a time capsule in the 60s, welcome to the future! In this world, most women have jobs , which means that housework is no longer gender-related. To keep your relationship healthy, it’s probably best to split the relationship equally.
While this may sound like common sense to some of our younger readers, the idea of doing housework together between both (all?) Members of a relationship is a relatively new idea. As the news site Vox notes, the rise in the number of women in the workforce in the 1970s changed the way the American family looked at domestic work. Demographer Francis Goldscheider called this phenomenon “the second shift.” Research over time has shown that in this new world where the working parent or spouse is not determined by their gender, the more balanced the housework is, the more likely everyone is to be happy with their relationship:
Goldscheider is the author of a review of recent research that shows how changing men’s attitudes toward masculinity and greater male participation in household and childcare are actually helping to strengthen marriages. Men doing more household chores can help protect against divorce . The more time a man spends with his children, the more satisfied they are with the relationship of both partners .
Again, this may be obvious to younger readers, but it wasn’t always this way. Even today, some consider tasks such as raising children, washing dishes, or cleaning as “women’s affairs.” Even if you don’t see it in such a black and white television environment, making sure both partners are in charge of the home is a surefire way to improve a relationship.
Want a happier marriage? Divide your homework equally. | Vox