Women are expected to be more organized and domestic than men everywhere in the world. If you are a girl, you are expected to be tidy and organized, whereas if you are a boy, it is okay to be messy and disorganized. When you close your eyes and picture a teenage girl’s room, you usually imagine something organized and neat while when you imagine a teenage boy’s room, it is just messy with things lying around. This is how deeply rooted in our Gender Inequality.
Why Women Are Expected to Do More At Home?
Even as an adult having an unorganized room for a woman is her failure and irresponsibility, it is just a normal case scenario for a man. When a woman starts living with her partner or gets married, her responsibility only increases, whereas it stays the same for a man. A woman needs to start taking care and looking after one more person while the man can relax knowing that someone will take care of him. This is a commonly observed issue in a heterosexual relationship where it is already assumed that all the household responsibilities will be taken care of by the female.
It was believed that women are made for household work while men need to be the breadwinner, but now when the times have changed, and women have started earning too it is still the responsibility of women to look after the housework, why? Expecting women to take up household duties limit their potential, it is unpaid labour and is a form of gender bias and inequality.
When men try to help around in the household work they usually just spend 1.4 hrs a day whereas a woman spends at least (emphasis on least) 2.4 hours, according to a study conducted by the Department of Labour. Men tend to choose small tasks and end up doing the bare minimum and are glorified for the same, whereas women overtake more responsibilities than men and are neglected because it is her duty. Can someone please explain how is this not misogynistic behaviour?
Even when the chores are divided women are given indoor chores like cooking, cleaning and laundry which is a daily task while men are given outdoor chores like mowing and washing the car which is a weekly occurrence.
During the pandemic in some homes, we could see the positive side of work from home culture, and on the other side, we could see the negative impact. While some men showed more interest in the household work and took more responsibility in the chores, some men just relaxed and lazed around making the women do almost 5 times more work, with little to no help from their partner’s side.
A study showed that a single mother has fewer household chores compared to a mother with a partner. A Single mother usually gets the support and help from her children, whereas a married mother feels responsible for taking care of the entire household herself. This also results in the discontinuation of the job to stay home and take care of the family. It is seen that women with supportive partners who divide household chores equally tend to become more successful at work—also, fathers who are equally involved in the household chores set up an example for their children. A girl learns that she can pursue her dreams and goals without worrying about household chores while a boy learns how to participate in household chores and break the idea of gender-based inequality.
Here are some ways you can be a little more supportive and involved in household chores:
Do your fair share of chores and do not see chores as a gender thing. Do not label the chores as something females should do or something a female cannot do. For example, cooking is best left to the women.
Take on extra household tasks when your partner feels tired or is stuck with some work and does the tasks with no reservation.
Try not to mix up your personal and professional life. Leave work at the office and try not bringing it home.
We need to set an example for the generation who are looking up to us. We need to create an environment where women and men get to thrive equally.
