Say what: having a man gives you so many more hours of work at home

It's hard to believe. After years of swimming in the hopeless dating pool of single men, you've finally found a man who doesn't give you a headache, but he does give you something else: more household work. Yes, it's true. According to a study from the University of Michigan, having a man gives you an average of – hold on – seven (!) extra household hours per week. For men, this means that their wife takes one hour of household work off their hands each day. I have three words for this: How. Can. This?

Although it doesn't surprise me that our partners are all too happy to be taken care of, this research does raise a number of questions. I mean, these men must have lived on their own at some point, right? The same study also shows that of all men, single men take on the most household work. Aha, so they can do it. After marriage, the hours they spend on household chores drastically drop to a meager 10 hours per week, while those same hours for married women can rise to as much as 28 hours per week. In other words: as many hours as a part-time job.

But why do men throw out the household skills they learned during their bachelor days the moment they find a warm nest? According to the researchers, this is an old-fashioned phenomenon. In the past, men and women had a clear division when it came to work. The man worked outside the home, the woman inside. Now that times have changed and women can have just as kick-ass a career as their man, it turns out that old-fashioned division of roles is not so easy to disappear as the household skills of our men. How convenient for them. This means that women, despite their equally busy lives, still feel the most responsible for the household. Great.

However, it's not all bad news. The division of household roles between men and women is becoming increasingly fair, which would mean that in a few years it would be completely equal. To be honest, I think this is a case of: seeing is believing. Until then, according to this research, it's best to stay single. Single women actually have it best with an average of 12 hours of household work per week. I know, as a professional household avoider, I personally don't know where they get these statistics from, but it must be true.

Is this a reason to never step into the marriage boat at all? Of course not, but a little re-education in the form of a visit to the Household Fair with my husband doesn't sound so crazy at the moment...

Source: Science Daily
Geschreven door: Sophie Rietmulder