GENDERED DIVISION OF HOUSEHOLD LABOR: ITS PERSISTENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON RELATIONAL STABILITY

When my parents married after World War II, neither was specialized, except by biology, for the marital and parental roles they would assume. My mother, who had a PhD in physics, could not cook anything except fudge. Other people had always cleaned for her and done her laundry. My father, a college graduate working for a family business, had also led a privileged life. He had never lived away from the structure provided by parents, college dormitory, and the U.S. Army. While he knew a fair amount about early forms of radar, he had never fixed up a house, rebuilt an engine, or mowed a lawn.

Nonetheless, because of the period and the area in which my parents settled (Milwaukee, never a hotbed of liberalism), they quickly developed a highly gendered division of household tasks. My mother did not work outside the home except, for a couple of years, as an adjunct professor. She did learn to cook (badly, except for party foods) and was in charge of delegating the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping. Even the children's chores were gendered. My jobs, when I was old enough to have them, were setting the table, clearing up, and doing dishes. My younger brothers’ jobs involved raking leaves, mowing the lawn (with ever fancier riding mowers), and shoveling snow. I wasn't supposed to touch my father's tools; my brothers were encouraged to saw and hammer and solder.