London - Dividing the household chores can sometimes seem like a chore in itself.
But splitting domestic tasks equally is the secret to a happy household, according to a new book.
Men, women and children all benefit if a couple share the housework. Only when husbands commit to taking on half the chores and childcare can a family thrive, according to Sharon Meers, a former Goldman Sachs executive, and Joanna Strober, who works in private equity.
Their view is supported by Facebook boss Sheryl Sandberg, who has a written a foreword to the book, Getting To 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All.
“Even though my husband Dave and I are lucky and can afford exceptional childcare, there are still difficult decisions about how much time our jobs require us to be away from our family and who will pick up the slack when the other can’t be there,” writes the 44-year-old mother of two.
“We are rarely at 50/50 at any given moment – perfect equality is hard to define, or sustain – but that remains the goal as the pendulum swings between us.”
She says it isn’t only fair, but also “the better thing to do for a family”.
She suggests that allowing men to take on their share of chores provides women with more choices, and that the “bonus…extends to the men themselves and their children as well”.
Strober says women were leaving the workforce “in droves” because they could not figure out how to combine work and family.
“They were taking total ownership in their home while juggling their jobs,” she says.
“So we are saying to women that there is no need to be a CEO at home, particularly if you want to be a CEO at work, because no one wants to come home to a CEO – man or woman.
“Instead you have to open up, create more space for men to do things in the home and they are happier to do it.”
According to Great Expectations, a report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research, about 80 percent of married women still do more housework than their husbands.
Around 10 percent of men do the same amount of chores as their wives while just over 13 percent of women say their husbands do more housework than they do.- Daily Mail