Should a Man Do Housework?

 

Should a Man Do Housework?

People generally think that a woman should always be a housewife and a man should work outside the home, namely, a man’s responsibilities are different from those of a woman. This opinion is, to a large extent, correct. A man should be a breadwinner and give the necessary financial support. In many cases a woman takes part in such responsibilities, especially nowadays when living expenses have become unbearably heavy.

When talking about a man’s duties at home we should keep in mind a very important concept: that a family is a social institution and that marriage in the social sense has a reciprocal dimension with regard to responsibilities and burdens. It is this cooperation that gives a flavor or rather a pleasure to family life. Then a married couple would each feel that they are working for themselves or for something dear to them. However, if a husband avoids doing housework, thinking that this would be degrading to him or below his dignity, such thinking is superficial, trivial and irrational. If one does something for oneself it would be natural. Indeed, any kind of natural behavior must not be criticized.

From this perspective, any participation on the part of man in housework is only a sort of magnanimity, an affirmation of manliness and an assertion of personality. Any contrary concepts must be wrong or false. In point of fact, cooperation in any field of life is essential to advance humanity, not to mention cooperation in the field of establishing the most important social unit, namely, the family.

However, one thing should not be overlooked, namely, the husband might be engaged in intellectual, artistic or scientific activities, in which case he cannot give a great deal of time to housework. In such a case he might be excused for wishing waste time in other fields.