Division of household chores is still not embraced by them

Lunch to finish, crowded sink, time for children to leave school and important decisions to be made. If you live with a partner and feel the pressure to solve all these tasks alone just reading the examples, it’s time to sit down and dot the “is”.

Occupying almost half of the job market in the US, according to a new Gallup poll released in January this year, women are still seen and do most of the housework. The survey points out that in heterosexual relationships the division of tasks takes place in outdated and sexist ways.

Washing clothes (58%), cleaning the house (51%) and preparing meals (51%) appear as the partners’ responsibilities. Keeping the car in good condition (69%) and gardening (59%) are men’s tasks. That is, a reinforcement of stereotypes that accompany gender definitions.

According to the teacher Lagoamong the numerous factors behind this issue, “at one appreciation of what is built as part of the masculine and the devaluation of what is built as part of the feminine. Domestic work is the best example of this, it is linked to care, which is socially constructed as a women’s responsibility, which also explains why it is so undervalued, to the point of not being considered work. It is clear that it is not just one action that can change this, but as long as we continue to teach only our girls to care, and never the boys, there will be no effective cultural change”, points out the coordinator of the Research Group Alterity, Subjectivities, Gender Studies and Performances in Communications and Arts (AlterGen).

For the interviewees, high school students, a family with young children needs to be composed of the following dynamics: fathers working full-time and mothers dedicating their time to domestic care. In addition to these tasks, women are the main decision-makers in 62% of households.

There is only one task where men and women are equally likely to lead in paying bills. In 37% of US households, the woman primarily pays the bills, while in 34% of households, the man pays.

When analyzing the interviewees according to gender, it is possible to notice that the participants themselves are more responsible for certain functions. At 59% each, housekeeping and daily childcare were the highest percentages directed at self.

Most of the interviewed partners pointed out that the moments of responsibility with the children belong to both, 47%. But does everyone act this way in practice already? We wish so.

According to the researchers, there is a behavioral shift towards younger men who are more open to women also being financial providers. However, when wives earn more than men, the reluctance to do housework is even greater.

If it’s not for love, it’s for pain. This saying explains a point that can change this scenario backwards with the division of household functions: economic instability. The difficulty of entering and maintaining the labor market, both for men and women, can make husbands, through necessity, have a different perception of gender equality.

According to the Monitoring the Future survey (in Portuguese, “Monitorando o Futuro”), which served as the basis for the Gallup study, young people are already moving towards a more open view of working women: the portion they would rather have a family with a mother who stays at home was 23% in 2014, and in 1976, the decision reached 44%.

Read more: Feminism is not about setting the dinner table. but it is also