The Lives of Stay-at-Home Fathers by Catherine Richards Solomon

Author:Catherine Richards Solomon [Solomon, Catherine Richards]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Gender Studies, Sociology, Marriage & Family, Men's Studies, Family & Relationships, Marriage & Long-Term Relationships
ISBN: 9781787435018
Google: qk80DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Published: 2017-09-25T02:42:53+00:00

MAKING SENSE OF HOUSEWORK

Like the caring nature of cooking healthy meals, men in my study characterized housework as a way to care and provide for their wives, similar to how they described fathering tasks in Chapter 3. Theo shared a similar sentiment: “I put my daughter down for a nap and I’ll clean the kitchen, or I might prep something for lunch… I feel like I want to make sure that I’m picking up all the flack so that my wife can focus on her work and on her school work.”

Chad also saw his housework as a way to support his wife’s paid work as well as her time with their child. He said:

I do all of it [the housework], and she doesn’t do any of it. I do all the accounting, I do all the cleaning, I do all the cooking, and I do all the laundry. I put away her clothes even … My wife has to work so much anyways, that when she gets some free time I want her to spend that with our daughter.

Other men made similar comments about purposely wanting to give their wives time with their children, like Luke, “I probably cook 80 percent of the meals. That also gives her time to come home at night and focus on quality time with him rather than spending 45 minutes in the kitchen making dinner.” Thus, even though they were not economically providing for their families, their housework contributions freed up their wives’ time after work to play or interact with their children or to just relax. They were contributing to the economic well-being of their household because such contributions also enabled their wives to work for pay without concern about the upkeep of the home, a responsibility traditionally meant for women.

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