"Eine wirklich einfache Antwort auf das feministische Hausarbeit-Problem"

Eine beliebte Klage vieler Feministinnen lautet, dass sich Männer in einer Partnerschaft zu wenig an der Hausarbeit beteiligten. Das ist ein Pseudo-Problem, argumentiert Jonathan Chait im New-York-Magazin:

Women in general just have higher standards of cleanliness than men do. People who care a lot about neater homes spend more time cleaning them because that makes them happy. And while I agree in general that domestic life requires more gender equality, the housework problem has a partial solution that’s simpler and more elegant: Do less of it.

Viewing housework inequality as entirely a phenomenon of exploitative men free-riding off of female domestic labor makes sense only if you think men derive equal enjoyment from a cleaner and neater home. If that were the case, men who lived by themselves, or with other men, would have to keep their own homes tidy until they could conscript a wife or girlfriend to do their cleaning. Does anybody think that’s true?

(...) The assumption of much of the feminist commentary surrounding household chores assumes that there is a correct level of cleanliness in a heterosexual relationship, and that level is determined by the female. I think a little cultural relativism would improve the debate.

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