Why Domestic Chores Matter Less to Men

Domestic chores overwhelmingly fall to women in most households. Find out the psychology behind this disparity and why it doesn’t give men a free pass to avoid housework.

A few years ago, I was chatting online with a female friend while doing my laundry. She said to me, “You should go fold and hang up your clothes right away, otherwise they’ll get wrinkled.” My half-joking reply was, “What’s your point?” She fired back an eye-roll emoji and changed the subject.

I grew up in a house with my dad, my mom and my two brothers. As the only female in the home, this left my mother in a difficult position.

Surrounded by men, she couldn’t seem to impress on us the need to do things like laundry, scrubbing the floor, vacuuming and putting things away. I like to think I’ve improved on this shortcoming, if only by paying for a cleaning service, but domestic disorder seemed to trouble my mother in ways to which the rest of us couldn’t relate.

Seventy Percent of Women Report Being Responsible for Domestic Tasks

Apparently, our household was far from unique in this way. For example, in a Morning Consult poll for the New York Times, 70% of women reported being fully or mostly responsible for domestic tasks at home.