The New York Times Wants Men to Do More at Home

Back in July, in the New York Times' Room for Debate series, they asked a collection of variously known people how to get men to do more at home. I find this kind of funny in that I - and many of the men I know - actually do at least half of the household chores. Granted, I am not the norm for men in this country, which would also make most of the men I know outside the norm, but no one is asking about us and why we willingly do our share of the work.

How Can We Get Men to Do More at Home?

 

A year ago, Fredrik Friberg, a Swedish civil servant, said that he was complimented for cutting his work hours to raise his child, but that his wife, who did the same thing, was not. 

Introduction

A recent article in a series in The International Herald Tribune noted that while German and other European women are making strides in education and in the workplace, their professional advancement stalls once they have children. They opt out of the job market, or seek part-time work, just as they do in the United States, as well as in Canada and Australia.

The reasons are similar: the availability and affordability of child care are cited as factors, combined with the hard-to-quantify traditional ideas about parenting, housework and the need to care for elderly parents. Lisa Belkin of The Times's Motherlode blog last week discussed the issue of the work-life balance equation around the world.

If greater equality between men and women in the work force has not led to greater equality in child-rearing and other domestic responsibilities, what will?

Read the Discussion »

Debaters

• Don't Work if You Don't Have To

  Neil Gilbert
  

• Institute 'Daddy Leave'

  Andrea Doucet
  

• Change Rituals and Behavior

  Ute Frevert
  

• A Tax Rebate for Diversity

  Joshua Gans
  

• What Women Have to Do

  Sandrine Devillard
  

• What Men Have to Do

  Jeremy Adam Smith
  

• The Obvious Conflicts

  Virginija Langbakk