The sort of relationship the picture describes is from the 1950's. It's been exaggerated of course with the language, but we can't forgot the time period those gender roles came from.
Back in the 50's, it was common for the man to go out to work and for the woman to stay at home and keep things neat and tidy. Since the family unit was able to support itself on one income, this delegation of duties was seen as far and equitable. Not that the gender roles were EQUAL, they weren't. A woman doing the wage earning would have been looked down upon, but the delegation of duties between wage earner and housekeeper made sense.
Things like keepign the house clean and preparing meals seems pretty fair when one is not earning a wage to support things financially.
That brigns us to today. TODAY, it is practically impossible to support a family on one income. Therefore, it becomes NECESSARY for both husband and wife to be employed in order to financially pay for everything. With todays mindset, it's almost a little off putting when only one person in the marriage has a job. It's like the "housekeeper" is not pulling his or her weight financially, even if they are doing things like housekeeping and cooking. And it's even worse if its the husband.
Personally, I feel like economics have affected gender roles more than anything else. A fairly solid case could probably be made that the feminist movement started succeeding in the 70's when the economics of living started demanding a larger overall household income. That's a topic for a thesis though, not a single post.
I also second what GILDA said and USTWO quoted.
|