How Will Household Labour Be Divided?

No one likes doing chores. In happiness surveys, housework is ranked down there with commuting as activities that people enjoy the least. Maybe that's why figuring out who does which chores usually prompts, at best, tense discussion in a household and, at worst, outright fighting.” Emily Oster

Most fights in marriage are over money, but I hazard division of labour has to be second. Back in the fifties, what roles we played in a marriage was easy. The woman took care of the house and children and the man worked and took care of the messy jobs like changing the oil. With the equal rights of women, we were to enjoy the freedoms of men, and women joined the work force. Now, many families are dual income and the equal rights fight has given way to the battle of household responsibility.

A good discussion to have is about how each set of parents handled household responsibility and what worked and what did not. My father never changed a diaper. My mom never mowed the lawn. When we come from traditional homes, we may have an unintentional mindset of tasks as being gender specific.

Studies show that working women do more housework and childcare then men and this trend does not appear to be abating. Even in households that report a high degree of male participation, the woman is still doing more. Few enjoy housework – it is like being on a hamster wheel... You do the dishes and the next day, you eat breakfast and there are more dishes. You spend the day doing laundry and at the end of the day undress, making more laundry!

While the trend is that women are doing more, is there a reason for this? I have observed women ‘correcting’ the way their husband undertakes household or childcare tasks. Women then question why their husband is not helping. Would you help if you had dressed your child for daycare, then your wife complained the outfit did not match and redressed them? Would you pitch in to cook if your wife would not eat what you made because it was spiced wrong?

Men ask, ‘Why does she care anyway?’ Men see dust on the coffee table and still put their feet on it and watch the game. It still holds their beer, so what does dust matter? Women see their home as a reflection of themselves. A house that is dirty shows they are a failure. Part of nurturing is making sure those they hold near and dear are secure and safe.

Kin Hubbard makes this point in defence of his brethren, “The fellow who owns his own home is always coming out of a hardware store.” Men, it is touted, are not getting a fair representation in these studies. The research is biased in that these studies minimize or completely fail to look at jobs traditionally done by men: changing the oil, mowing the lawn, home repairs. It is also pointed out that, on average, males that are employed full-time work more hours than women employed full-time. If you factor in the male’s longer work hours and the time spent doing ‘man’s work’, there is actually very little difference.

Women counter that the chores traditionally done by men are of a less then everyday nature, changing the oil happens a few times a year, yet food preparation happens several times a day.

Some men report they would help with housework more if their wife helped with outside chores. Fair enough. Though women are becoming more independent, many women do not know about the workings of cars or furnaces. There is no science, though, to raking leaves or cleaning the gutters. Men need to remember, in the same way women should not critique a man’s cleaning efforts, a man should not tell his spouse that it looks like a gorilla mowed the lawn.

Is there a meeting of the minds over what clean looks like? What is an appropriate supper? If someone has done the job, even if it is not up to your standards, do not redo it. When a spouse undertakes a task, we need to understand that it may not be done as you would...there may be crumbs on the counter or every dish in the house is dirty after cooking. People’s comfort level with clutter or dirt is different. It only matters that they tried. We also should not need to be reminded over and over. No one likes to be nagged, but if the garbage is something you agreed to do and the can is overflowing, what do you expect?

Use the chore list to figure out who will do what job. We all have tasks we hate, like cleaning the bathroom. It is important to know what your partner hates doing, so perhaps you can take on this job. And, if you both hate it, rotate. Maybe a fair way to view this is hours spent. If someone really is working more hours outside the home, this should be relevant.

One last note that may make all of this seem more important: John Gottman, PhD, states, “Women find a man’s willingness to do housework extremely erotic.” As one woman told me, “If he wants to turn me on, clean a bathroom.”

Division of Household Labour - Worksheet

  1.  Who will make a menu?
  2. Who will do the cooking?

  3. Who will do the baking?

  4. Who will set and clear the table?

  5. Who will shop for groceries?

  6. Who does the dishes?

  7. Who will clean the fridge?

  8. Who will clean the kitchen?

  9. Who will clean the bathroom?

  10. Who will vacuum and sweep?

  11. Who will mop floors?

  12. Who will dust?

  13. Who will do tidying?

  14. Who will take care of the plants?

  15. Who will make the beds?

  16. Who will change bedding?

  17. Who will do the laundry?

  18. Who will take and pick up dry cleaning?

  19. Who will do mending?

  20. Who will shop for clothes and furnishings?

  21. Who takes out the trash and recycling?

  22. Who will do deep cleaning (oven, defrost freezer, clean carpets)?

  23. Who will wash the windows?

  24. Who will clean blinds and curtains?

  25. Who will paint when needed?

  26. Who will do spring cleaning of the interior?

  27. Who will do spring cleaning of the exterior?

  28. Who will get the chimney cleaned?

  29. Who will deal with bugs and vermin?

  30. Who will maintain smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide detectors?

  31. Who will inspect the exterior for maintenance issues?

  32. Who will clean the gutters?

  33. Who will do yard care (mowing, raking, aerating)?

  34. Who will shovel snow?

  35. Who will maintain flower beds?

  36. Who will do the watering?

  37. Who will clean the garage?

  38. Who will do routine home maintenance?

  39. Who will see to the upkeep of the heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing systems?

  40. Who will maintain lawn mowers, power tools etc.?

  41. Who will do major home repairs?

  42. Who will handle household emergencies?

  43. Who will take care of home improvements and renovations?

  44. Who will take care of appliance maintenance?

  45. Who will wash the car?

  46. Who will do car maintenance?

  47. Who will winterize the house and vehicles?

  48. Who will handle major purchases?

  49. Who will run errands?

  50. Who picks up and deals with the mail?

  51. Who does the budget?

  52. Who will pay the bills?

  53. Who will do the banking?

  54. Who will do the taxes?

  55. Who will manage the family’s schedule?

  56. Who will handle legal matters?

  57. Who will do financial planning?

  58. Who answers letters, emails and returns phone calls?

  59. Who makes medical appointments?

  60. Who will take care of extended family matters?

  61. Who will buy gifts for family & friends?

  62. Who will plan special events?

  63. Who will plan vacations?

  64. Who will plan outings and recreational activities?

  65. Who takes care of the pets?

  66. Who will take care of the children?

  67. Who will bath the children?

  68. Who is in charge of the bedtime routine?

  69. Who will drop off and pick up children?

  70. Who will fill in children’s forms?

  71. Who will volunteer at school?

  72. Who will pack children’s snacks and meals?

  73. Who will take care of sick children?

  74. Who will over see homework?

  75. Who will attend teacher conferences?

  76. Who will drive to after school activities?

  77. Who will take care of discipline?

If This Person Says They Love You, is There Evidence of That?

Real giving is when we give to our spouses what’s important to them, whether we understand it, like it, agree with it, or not.”Michele Weiner-Davis

If you take people at their word, our jails are filled with people who are innocent. It would be nice if we could be honest when we have done something wrong and just say, "You caught me." The world would be a much better place. Sometimes, we do not reveal what we really think or feel to keep the peace or to spare the feelings of those we care about. On the other hand, we are at heart just striving to meet our own needs.

People tell you who they are if you pay close attention. We get caught up too much in listening to what people say. We should understand we are able to manipulate what comes out of our mouth, but have less control over our bodily reactions. That is why lie detectors were invented, even if they are not one hundred percent reliable. When we are being deceptive we may not be able to look someone in the eye or shift from foot to foot. Some people have a tell when they are lying, but Charles Bond Jr. and Bella DePaulo found that even police are not able to detect with any reliability when someone is lying, having only about a fifty percent accuracy.

As we do not have a reliable method to ascertain the truth of what our beloved tells us, we need another measure of the truth. If you could not hear, what would the things you could see, such as your partners actions tell you about what they believe and how they feel about you and others? Does what you see match up with what has been said? If they say they can be trusted, do they leave the room to make phone calls?

The saying is: actions speak louder than words. It is easy, though, to be dazzled by sweet words when they are what you want to hear. It can be like the misdirection that happens at a magic show. It may not even be that they are acting maliciously, rather we often do not have a full awareness of our own selves, especially our shadow side. We see men who marry yet still party and sleep with other women. Christine Scott-Hudson, a psychotherapist says, "Pay twice as much attention to how someone treats you than what they say. Anybody can say they love you, but behaviour doesn't lie...trust their behaviour."

It is hard to make sense of things when we are drunk on love hormones. When we want this relationship to work so badly, we try hard to look for positive signs and sweep the nasty ones under the rug. There are books that try to help us understand why other people do what they do and help us make better choices in relationships. A great example is He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. He may be giving off signals that this relationship is just scratching an itch while she is picking out a wedding dress. This should be required reading for every young woman. It can be devastating when she realizes the future she was building in her mind was a house of cards. Keeping your eyes open can save you pain down the road.

There is another side to this... There are few things more frustrating in a relationship then to put your whole heart into loving someone the best you are capable of, only to be told by your beloved that they do not feel loved. Gary Chapman in his book, The 5 Love Languages, postulates that we do not all give and expect to be given love in the same way. When we head to a foreign country where another language is spoken we may install a translation app or expect some confusing situations. If we buy into Chapman's notion, many marriages are in need of a love language app to dispel the day-to-day confusion of: "How can she not think I love her?"

The five types Chapman identified are: receiving gifts, acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, and physical touch. If you are someone who shows your love through acts of service, you may spend your day shopping for and cooking his favourite meal, picking up his dry cleaning, and washing his socks. Meanwhile he, who speaks love through physical touch, is sitting on the couch thinking she is avoiding being close to him. She just wants him to get his behind off the couch and cross things off that 'honey-do' list. A perfect example of this is the woman who told me, “If he wants to turn me on, clean a toilet.”

If it is not readily apparent what your primary language is, take the quiz Chapman provides.

I found out about this book after my divorce and it was a lightbulb moment. The woman who shared this book with me says she gives this book as a wedding gift and I think this is an excellent idea. It is sure to bring more help and happiness then any small kitchen appliance ever could.

Are You the Flower or the Gardener in Your Relationship?

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