“The Standard American Housewife, all husband, home, and kids. The New Commodity, the liberated Women, has sex a lot, has a career, preferably something that can be fitted with the household chores…”As a society, we have been groomed to enact what is “normal”. When it comes to housework, what is normal? Being that we live in a patriarchal society, women cook, clean, tend to the laundry, take care of the kids, so on and so forth. Men engage in work that is suitable accepted by society. Such tasks as carpentry, mowing grass, fixing and maintaining vehicles, etc… What interests me the most, are the short comings in which men in our society admit to when it comes to housework. There is always an excuse. “I would do the laundry, but I always mess it up.” “You know I cannot to as good of a job as you do.” “I am too tired and stressed to be doing this.” “It will get done eventually.”
My question is why do women continue to engage in behaviors/activities (such as housework) that are deemed normal by society? Is it because it is natural? Is it really our job? Does something such as housework really give us a sense of fulfillment? To some women, I would suspect that answer to be yes. To others, I would guess a more common answer; we do it because it needs to be done. This duty has been forced upon women throughout generations by gender norms. When we think of women, we think of someone who tends to housework, the family, her husband, and anything and everything domestic. Until we gender norms change, we will still endure what is expected of us as women.
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