Married Men Really Do Do Less Housework

... than 'live-in boyfriends'. Grouch Marx is supposed to have quipped that marriage is a great institution -but who wants to live in an institution? Well, the answer would seem to be that women (and men) who want an equal approach to housework, at least according to the findings of this large sample and cross-cultural study:

"it suggests the institution of marriage changes the division of labor. Couples with an egalitarian view on gender--seeing men and women as equal--are more likely to divide the household chores equally. However, in married relationships, even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present, men still report doing less housework than their wives. 'Marriage as an institution seems to have a traditionalizing effect on couples--even couples who see men and women as equal,' "

I'm actually not surprised: the mental schemas about marriage are implied and passed on tacitly through many sources, little wonder they should have an effect in actual behaviour in the agregate at least. The interesting thing is the cohabitation dimension. There are those who reject traditional marriage precisely because of the inequalities. I didn't have too much sympathy with that viewpoint until a read this; but not I think I'm getting it more. It's a challenge to Christians who genuine do believe in an egalitarian approach; the weight of tradition may be prooving to be a dead-weight in our attempts to reform the institution. Perhaps it is time for us to take more seriously what we mean by marriage in a social context that seems almost irreformably unequal ... In fact, do we really want 'marriage' in the terms it has been handed down to us? And if not, how do we take on the task of adjusting to or from the social psychology of it?

ScienceDaily: Married Men Really Do Do Less Housework Than Live-in Boyfriends: