‘As some women began to see their fantasy of better homes and gardens as drudgery (Cleaner homes and housework), they made shifts in their fantasy. But they expected men to pursue the remaining housework and child care as if it were part of men’s fantasy. It was presented to men not as a fantasy, though, but as “you’d better do it or you’re a chauvinist.” Men became fearful of committing to a fantasy that was never theirs.’ — Warren Farrell
The latest hot feminist nag du jour is that men aren’t doing enough of the housework in relationships and the New York Times has a column whining about it.
When my husband and I became parents a decade ago, we were not prepared for the ways in which sexism was about to express itself in our relationship.
…The amount of child care men performed rose throughout the 1980s and ’90s, but then began to level off without ever reaching parity. Mothers still shoulder 65 percent of child-care work. In academic journals, family researchers caution that the “culture of fatherhood” has changed more than fathers’ actual behavior.