As my wife and I pushed our shopping carts through the parking lot of the supermarket, a passing woman remarked, “It’s so nice that you have help!”
She wasn’t talking to me.
As a fully domesticated male of many years, I resented the assumption that my wife was the grocery shopper and I was the help.
In reality, I’ve often taken care of the food shopping on my own, or with my daughters. And I’ve noticed, particularly during the evening hours, a lot of men are out there doing the same thing.
Why some people cling to an outmoded perception of gender roles, I’m sure I don’t know.
Men are guilty of believing ill-defined gender rolls too. When in a group, many are prone to spew some of the most inane dreck that can be imagined when it comes to their understanding of women.
Just for the record:
- When I am with my children, I am with my children and not baby-sitting;
- I cook, clean, do laundry, wash dishes, sew, shovel snow, and vacuum;
- My wife cooks, cleans, does laundry, washes dishes, sews, shovels snow, and vacuums;
- I mow the lawn;
- She rolls the trash and recycling bins to the curb.
It’s not a one-person show.
It rarely is.
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