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They just never got special recognition for doing so.
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Over the past forty years of radical feminism's ascent to power in our society, we've all grown familiar with the biased rants about women's "second shift," inequality in contributing to household maintenance, even the argument that women's home-work should be subsidized by government stipends.
Changing diapers, cooking meals, vacuuming carpets, doing laundry ... all traditionally (but no longer) female tasks, were recognized as forms of domestic work.
Missing from the feminists inventory of valued labor were such contributions as automotive maintenance, lawncare, cleaning the gutters and downspouts, installing a garage door opener, numerous types of household repairs (plumbing, electrical, mechanical), home renovation/construction, etc.
All these forms of specialized male domestic work were ignored... intentionally.
While men have stepped up to the plate to shoulder expanding roles in childcare and household management, women continue to be quite content to default to the "I'm not mechanically inclined..." alibi when it comes to sharing the burden of these other essential tasks.
Something tells me that one reason men haven't made much of a fuss over this obvious inequality is because when men are doing "men's work," it's one of the few remaining sanctuaries where they can be left in peace, unfettered by female "supervision" and the typical hyper-verbal running of the mouth.
"I'll handle it honey..." might just really mean, "Ah, peace and quiet at last!"
"It's a terrible thing ... living in fear."
- Roy: hunted replicant, Blade Runner
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A close friend of mine just called me over the weekend to announce his wife of 16 years had just filed for a divorce. They both originally had management positions in the high tech industry. They wanted kids, and the husband offered the wife her choice of keeping her career or being a stay-at-home mom and raising the kids. If she chose her career, he would be a stay-at-home dad. She chose to raise the kids. He maintained his career and continues to earn a wage high enough to pay for a massive house in a good neighborhood. He spends time with the kids after work, and I remember him in the early days helping with diapers and cooking.
She did a good job disciplining and raising the kids, but she got tired of housecleaning and laundry. No problem, he made enough to afford a housekeeper, which they have had for the last 10 years. Now she doesn't want to cook anymore either. What does she do? Nothing much. But it's all just not good enough for her. She's hired an aggressive divorce attorney who's telling her "how it's done."
I'd always held her up as a woman that had somehow escaped all the insanities that plague contemporary American females. It turns out it doesn't matter how good a man or husband you are. It doesn't matter how much you help out. It won't be enough. I lost a little more hope this weekend. I don't have much left.
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"...men with children are putting in more hours than those without: 60% of them work 41 to 59 hours a week, whereas only 49% of men without kids rack up that many hours."
Maybe that's the reason married men earn more than single men.
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