What would you personally consider ‘man’s work’ (if any)

[Smyths]

Just curious really. I’m a bit of a feminist type and feel like I should be able to do everything a man can and be self sufficient but just means I feel hopeless when I realise I can’t. I often expect too much of myself beyond my capabilities.

What do you personally consider man’s work (if any) and would always delegate/ask a male in your family to do?

I’m not great at DIY, same as I’m not good at any arty/crafty projects generally. I’m just not very visual, don’t have a particularly steady hand and for whatever reason I’m just shit at that stuff. So I tend to leave that to DH or if it’s beyond him I call in my family who are builders, plumbers, electricians etc.

I don’t think it’s man work or I’m bad at it because I’m a woman, but I am bad at it so I do tend to get a man to do it which is a bit crap of me. Having said that I’m pretty good at building flat pack furniture and do change my own lightbulbs, fuses etc. I do try to watch and learn with the bigger stuff.

I tend to let DH do the bins too - in fact I told him when we were first together the only reason I was considering living with someone again was that I wanted someone to take the bins out. Having said that if he’s busy or I notice he’s forgotten for whatever reason I’ll do them.

We split cooking and cleaning. We both largely ignore the garden though I’m as likely to mow the lawn as he is - although I’m 8 months pregnant at the moment so that’s definitely fallen into his job pile, as has hoovering and any kind of heavy lifting but usually it’s more equal.

I don't consider things to be man's work but on the other hand the reality is that there are some things that my husband can do that I can't because I'm not physically strong enough to do it. And it's also easier for him to open some of the windows because he doesn't have to find something to climb on in order to reach them.

& my rule is anything I don't want to do is his job except for accounting or phone calls
he is a far better cook than me so if I want him to cook I tell him I am cooking something he doesn't like - its worked for over 40 years

I made dh remove a dead bird from the drive last week. He commented about feminism, but just because I can do something, doesn't mean I will do it if there's someone else to do it for me. TBF, I would have asked anyone to remove it if it meant I didn't have to.
Occasionally I have to ask him to open a jar or something, but if he wasn't here I'd figure something out, I wouldn't just waste away.

Nothing at all.
There are jobs that require skill or the right tools which we hire a professional to do and there are jobs that I’m too short to do (5’2”) that dh does but a taller woman could do just as well.

Disturbing thread. I wonder how many women posting here that certain things are 'men's jobs' also claim to be feminists.

No job is a man's job or a woman's job. We're all capable of finding ways to do all the jobs. Otherwise women wouldn't be able to live alone without employing a constant stream of men.

Pretty much anything I don’t want to do in our household, which now includes all the vacuuming. I have been banned from using the vacuum after I over did it and ended up in bed for nearly a month with severe sciatica. The knock on effect was DH and DS had to cook, which is woman’s work in our house because I love cooking and DH doesn’t. DH and DS are happy to do all the housework as long as I promise to cook.

Err nothing as I'm single and do it all myself.

Basically nothing. DH is stronger than me - he has absurdly strong wrists, so often opens things for me as mine are absurdly weak, but I can't remember the last time he needed to lift/carry something because I couldn't. He's also taller, but if I need to reach something I stand on a chair.

Heavy physical stuff such as mining, drilling and fixing roads, building scaffolding, working at oil rigs, breaking wild horses in, building roads and houses etc. Women would moan and faint in these jobs. Stop deluding yourselves that you could do these shitty jobs coz you couldn’t. You wouldn’t last a day you dainty damsels.

In this household, sewing is a man's job. The sewing machine belongs to DH. He can thread it and feed fabric smoothly and quickly under the thingy and it comes out the other side with a row of neat and even stitches. He can make clothes and household items.

I watch all of this from a safe distance (usually muttering 'Witchcraft') and have been known to throw something on the floor and stamp on it when trying to sew a button on

I have tried to work in a very male industry and it was clear that more often than not, my face didn’t fit. It’s a strange paradox: you have to be twice as good as the boys to get your foot in the door, but not in a way that makes them feel threatened once you’re there or you’ll soon be on your way out again. This was film and camera work and you have to keep up physical fitness to carry around all the kit as no one wants to carry their weight and yours too. You have to fit in the hierarchy and never complain, like one of the guys but also not as you have a female body and most of the straight ones have a hint of the voyeur about them. In the end I burnt out from trying so hard and got a related office job through an industry training programme. Even then I was told by two male “colleagues” that I probably got it because of affirmative action and not wholly on merit.

But as a result I’m now very good at noticing the kind of man who thinks there are girls jobs and boys jobs. They do give themselves away eventually. unfortunately until they change their minds the rest of us will be held back, what ever our Skillset and capabilities.

Don’t let that put you off though.

I’m about to retrain and go into another traditionally male industry, older wiser and with the added skill sets of project managing and negotiating with a toddler 😂

Unless it requires a penis then there’s nothing that’s ‘man’s work’.

There might be some things that I personally am too short/not strong enough/can’t be arsed to do and I might need to find someone taller/stronger/willing but that someone doesn’t need to be male.

@hamstersarse

How many of posters on this thread have men available to do jobs?

I bet the majority

I have no dad or husband / live in partner....for 11 years...and despite the “women can do everything” protestations...I don’t believe it

I used to think that....until I no longer lived with a strong heavy lifting man

I live alone. My dad is almost 80 so I don't ask him to do heavy jobs and my partner lives almost an hour away.

I'm pretty handy but there are some jobs I happily hand off to others.

There was a dead bird on our patio a few weeks ago, I was very quick to hand DH a bin bag and gaze at him expectantly.

I'm not particularly interested in gardening, looks like housework outside to me, and I don't like housework either. I don't have the patience for anything complicated or fiddly. I'd happily live a life where DH did absolutely everything and I just wafted around eating chocolate.

If you put jars under hot water it makes it easier to get the lids off btw.

We are a very ‘traditional’ household where I do most of the cooking and cleaning and OH will do everything else but it’s because I’m useless at any DIY, car stuff, etc. He’s an electrician and along with his stepdad they renovating our entire house during lockdown, so he’s very handy like that. I was happy to watch and make cups of tea/clean up after 😂

But OH is in charge of the dishwasher and dishes 😂

Anything which requires that bit more strength. Which isn't much.

Heavy stuff. And building things/electrics. But only because DH is twice as strong as me and a tradesman. Why would I want to take the lawnmower engine apart and fix it when he knows what he's doing and I don't.

Carrying heavy stuff. I don't mean shopping bags, I mean heavy heavy

@Smartanimal

Heavy physical stuff such as mining, drilling and fixing roads, building scaffolding, working at oil rigs, breaking wild horses in, building roads and houses etc. Women would moan and faint in these jobs. Stop deluding yourselves that you could do these shitty jobs coz you couldn’t. You wouldn’t last a day you dainty damsels.

Faints at feet of manly man.

It's the stuff I can't physically do, but I'm the only woman here so anything requiring extra strength falls to dh, not because he's a man but because he's physically stronger and can do it. There are no men's and women's jobs here. He does all the laundry, I do all the finances, he deals with most of the school interaction, we share the cooking. Whatever 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m really shocked at some of these, unless everyone is joking??

Yes there are jobs that I do and jobs that my DH does, but none of them require genitals so....

Jobs are allocated on a system of fair share, who is most competent, who cares about it being done, and occasionally on physical attributes eg I dug a tree stump out the other day, but called my DH to do the final tug to get it out because he’s heavier than me.

Honestly I don’t think there are man jobs. There is overlap between men and women. So even if most men can’t do something, some can(midwifery). And even if most women can’t do something, some can (firefighting).
DH and I have divided jobs up by our strengths. Sometimes I will joke and say I’ve saved x for him to do as its “man work”. But I’m not serious.

I don't consider any job at all to be man's work, except for sportsmen in men's professional sport.

Otherwise I think women can do any job that men do.