Household Chores: Who’s Responsible?

Every couple faces the problem of sharing household responsibilities. In a poll, conducted between 10/13/14 and 1/15/15, Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) posed the question: “Should there be a strict division of duties in a marriage?”

Those polled numbered 63,003, with a majority (65%) of people assuming that partners shouldn’t firmly divide household chores.

Participants of the poll represented the following countries: USA – 65%, Canada – 4%, Britain – 10%, Australia – 6% and other countries – 15%.

Household duties are an indivisible part of a married life and all the couples have their own approach to it. It may seem that wives always carry the heavy burden of the chores on their frail shoulders. But according to Wendy Klein, assistant professor of anthropology, Carolina Izquierdo, anthropologist,  and Thomas N. Bradbury,  professor of psychology, “Although working women's feelings of being overwhelmed is well documented, in some cases men are also often highly stressed by managing everyday household decisions and prioritizing the needs of family members.” They also suggest that couples should communicate more with each other, equally divide households chores and do them together as a team: “The couples who lacked clarity on what, when, and how household tasks and responsibilities would be carried out often said that they felt drained and rushed and had difficulty communicating their dissatisfaction in their lives. Spouses who appeared to have a clear and respectful understanding of one another's roles and tasks, in contrast, did not spend as much time negotiating responsibilities; their daily lives seemed to flow more smoothly.”

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, considers that the main rule of marriage is to be flexible. It concerns household duties as well. If you're willing to spend some time discussing the type and amount of chores each member of your family can and really want to do, then you may get pretty close to a high level of overall marriage satisfaction.

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.