Saturday, May 21, 2005
Hard-working husbands
A new study proves for the first time that men actually do a bigger share of household chores than their wives admit. Shedding new light on the decades-old battle between men and women over housework, the study of 265 married couples with children, published this month in the Journal of Marriage and Family, shows that wives estimate, when asked, that their husbands do 33% of the housework. But when researchers tracked men's actual housework time, they found husbands were shouldering 39% of the chore load.
This doesn't mean that I'm not a bundle of self-deception, too, but we knew that.
Husbands aren't getting off the hook entirely, though. They still give themselves too much credit, the study shows, claiming they do 42% of the work around the house.
Of course, if women have been underestimating the percentage of housework that their husbands do, does that not mean that they as well have been giving themselves "too much credit"? It is safe to say, I think, that most people give themselves too much credit.
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat May 21, 10:19:00 AM:
If THEY don't give themselves too much credit, who will? :)
Sissy
sisu
By 
Dymphna, at
Mon May 23, 09:54:00 PM:
What women don't realize is the effect of negative conditioning. If they keep thanking hubby for what he does, they'll get more of the behavior they're affirming.
Women are focused on getting things done; men are focused on women.
And besides, *everyone* thinks they do more than their share of the dishes.
