I had a rotten day at work yesterday (no, not bad news, just another stall), so I insisted on going out for Mexican food and margaritas for dinner, hence no cooking time. And curiously, the idea of tracking housework made the idea of emptying the dishwasher before I went to bed pretty damn unattractive, so I skipped it.
I also noticed another interesting stat in the same article: lesbian couples with kids (no data yet on gay men) do a total of 31 hours of housework per week - about a third less than straight couples.
Wha... ?! Clearly the lesbians are on to something.
So of course I brought this up with my guy over dinner. Our guesses: 1) women and men traditionally notice & care for different areas around the house, but a lot of housework isn't strictly required. So in a lesbian relationship, maybe the "guy" things just don't get done - which makes me really, really curious about gay male relationships and housework load! and 2) a lesbian couple is already outside society norms in some senses, so maybe it's easier to avoid getting your ego caught up in having a perfectly-kept house.
Which leads to the question, what is housework? For purposes of tracking it, I'm figuring it's things I do in the house (or yard), which benefit both me and my guy. That ropes in cooking, cleaning, yardwork - but no errands, and no time spent setting up our various networking gadgetry needs which are totally gratuitous, really, and fun anyway.
And for today's count (as yet incomplete of course): I spent 10 minutes emptying the dishwasher and pouring myself a bowl of cereal this morning....
2 comments:
I have a housework book: a guide to how to do everything. I sometimes even open it and look stuff up. But it's terrifying: 884 pages in a tiny, tiny point size. I liked at first that the author makes a case for being "done" with the house -- sounds silly, right? But the neverendingness is exactly what I despise about housework. The idea that you do enough and it's over (until next time) is sensible. But then you get to her lists of daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual chores, and it's staggering: Her way would be a full-time job. Cleaning drains, for example, is presented as a daily job. I skew too far the other way -- they only get cleaned when they're clogged in my house.
Oddly, I think it's silly to spend loads of time cleaning -- but I absolutely notice when I'm in an immaculate home. And I always feel a twinge of guilt for all the dust in my house.
Okay, you have defined housework, but what about housework while multi-tasking?
I may start cleaning up (wash pans, unload dishwasher, wipe counter, for example) after breakfast, and chat while the slower eater in the family finishes his oatmeal.
Similarly, if I am chatting, or listening while he shares a particular news item by reading it aloud, while I'm loading the dishwasher or folding socks, and I would have been chatting or listening anyhow, but I like doing stuff with my hands while I talk, (and I am not yet a knitter), how does that count?
I think that you are not counting grocery shopping, but if you did-- again, multi-tasking. If I use the fact that we are almost out of milk to motivate myself into walking or biking, which, yes, of course, I should do anyhow, but otherwise might not--is it exercise or housework?
I am guessing that the lesbians know that you can set the table and put away the groceries while supper cooks, but guys do stuff more sequentially, and doing stuff methodically and sequentially takes more time than doing it concurrently.
Second, I am guessing that the lesbians may be better at each doing the thing that they do most efficiently, perhaps using what I think might be the ideal division of labor--you do what you care about (or are better at)and I'll do what I care about (or am better at)--and that the couples are more concerned with "equal sharing," which may also be less efficient.
Third, I suspect that the lesbians may be better at involving the kids in a sort of Montessori approach to food prep and clean up.
Loyal Reader
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