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

188 replies

Smyths · 30/06/2020 20:34

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?

OP posts:
MinesAPintOfTea · 30/06/2020 22:32

Adding urea to the compost bins. Squatting up there is just too wobbly.

LonginesPrime · 30/06/2020 22:33

Feminism doesn’t mean women are the same as men. We are different and have different strengths (literally)...what’s the issue with this?

It doesn’t mean we are not of equal Value

It's sexist and, in the context of domestic tasks, heteronormative and single-parent exclusionary.

There are not 'men's tasks' in every home because lots of homes don't have a man, so the women manage them just fine. How, therefore, can they be men's tasks? A man doing something doesn't mean it is a men's task - it's just a task a man happens to be doing.

If one half of a lesbian couple is taller and reaches things from high shelves, is she taking on the man's role?

The other hugely damaging aspect of assigning men's work, is the logical conclusion that there must also be women's work.

I do sometimes wonder if I hit my head and woke up in the 1950s on here.

Eckhart · 30/06/2020 22:35

The other hugely damaging aspect of assigning men's work, is the logical conclusion that there must also be women's work

YES YES YES

SummerDayWinterEvenings · 30/06/2020 22:39

@BruceAndNosh

Our gardener is female and pretty strong.

The only job in in our house I pass to my DH is unscrewing tight lids off jars. But I do have feeble wrists. I do not let him near my drill, electric screwdriver or mitresaw

This www.amazon.co.uk/NRS-Healthcare-Bottle-Opener-Eligible/dp/B00A8L3KSK/ref=sr_1_35?dchild=1&keywords=jar+opener&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1593553067&sr=8-35

Was recommended to me by my consultant when I had tennis elbow in both elbows. Total game changer. Everyone I know has one. You can open anything. Just saying.

TipseyTorvey · 30/06/2020 22:40

Reaching high things. Sawing branches, I have a really strong bolt cropper but it can't go through the bigger branches so I do haul DH into main the bigger trees. Painting woodwork, I've no patience, can slap paint on a wall but woodwork is just tedious, DH is far better at it.

DameHannahRelf · 30/06/2020 22:40

Heavy lifting.

hamstersarse · 30/06/2020 22:41

@LonginesPrime

I am a single parent, have been for 11 years.
Which is why I can say what I said.

It is not sexist to say that men and women usually have different strengths. It is true!

SueEllenMishke · 30/06/2020 22:41

There's a huge difference hamster.

Let's flip it .....how about we say childcare and housework is women's work. That's not based on ability, talent or aptitude. That is everything to do with gender stereotypes and social constructs.

If you look at careers and jobs...there are certain sectors where a particular gender is underrepresented. It rarely has anything to do with physical attributes and is almost always to do with societal norms and expectations. This starts from birth....think about the language that is used to describe boys compared to girls. There are attributes that celebrated for one gender but ' punished' for another. In the workplace men are described as assertive yet women are bossy.... I could go on.

If only it was a simple as physical strength.

LightenUpSummer · 30/06/2020 22:41

SummerDayWinterEvenings have you also tried the cutlery handle method someone mentioned? If your gadget works better then I'm definitely getting one

WinWinnieTheWay · 30/06/2020 22:42

Putting every effort into eradicating women's rights by demanding access to their safe spaces?

Sexnotgender · 30/06/2020 22:44

@BruceAndNosh

Our gardener is female and pretty strong.

The only job in in our house I pass to my DH is unscrewing tight lids off jars. But I do have feeble wrists. I do not let him near my drill, electric screwdriver or mitresaw

Our gardener is female too.

Literally no job is a ‘man’s job’ around the house.

Chickoletta · 30/06/2020 22:46

Bins.
Anything requiring height.
Changing our king size duvet - I struggle as I have short arms.

I could, obviously, do any of these things myself, but these are the jobs which typically fall to DH. I do the majority of the washing and hoovering. All other tasks, including cooking, are fairly evenly split.

ShyOwl · 30/06/2020 22:47

Mowing the lawn and washing the car - I have no interest in either
Bins - can't stand emptying and sorting smelly bins
Anything related to the loft - hate climbing the ladder makes my legs go weak!

hamstersarse · 30/06/2020 22:48

Let's flip it .....how about we say childcare and housework is women's work. That's not based on ability, talent or aptitude. That is everything to do with gender stereotypes and social constructs.

if you look at careers and jobs...there are certain sectors where a particular gender is underrepresented. It rarely has anything to do with physical attributes and is almost always to do with societal norms and expectations. This starts from birth....think about the language that is used to describe boys compared to girls. There are attributes that celebrated for one gender but ' punished' for another. In the workplace men are described as assertive yet women are bossy.... I could go on.

You are taking a purely social constructivist argument and refusing to account for biology.

The literature is very clear. And this is cross cultural....please note that...it happens in every culture of humans.

In general women are more interested in people

In general men are ^more interested* in things

This is not a cultural thing.
Note on this thread, how many women are describing their ^lack of interest* in DIY. It’s not a coincidence,

So why are there more women in people jobs?
Why do most woman put childcare and family ahead of their career?

If you look to the countries with the most equality, you will see that instead of the predicted surge of women into ‘men’s’ jobs, the very opposite happens. The ‘inequality’ gets worse....more women go into people roles, more men go into ‘thing’ roles.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-equality_paradox

Don’t be frightened to be a woman!

Aria2015 · 30/06/2020 22:50

Things that involve physical strength. My husband is way stronger than me so it makes sense that he's the one that lifts and shifts heavier things.

justanotherneighinparadise · 30/06/2020 22:51

In my house it’s bins, car maintenance and bills 😬

LightenUpSummer · 30/06/2020 22:59

I would suggest anyone who’s never mowed a lawn to try it, it’s easy and really satisfying. It’s like hoovering’s less boring twin

notheragain4 · 30/06/2020 23:00

Penis modelling?

SueEllenMishke · 30/06/2020 23:02

hamster I'm not frightened to be a women. Don't be ridiculous. My entire career is based on helping women overcome societal expectations and stereotypes.

I'm an academic and one of my specialist research areas is women's career development.
While biology can explain physical attributes such as strength women do not choose jobs in the caring professions due to biology. That's all social norms, constructs and stereotypes.

Women taking career breaks or being SAHP is also heavily influenced by societal expectations.

hamstersarse · 30/06/2020 23:11

I'm an academic and one of my specialist research areas is women's career development.
While biology can explain physical attributes such as strength women do not choose jobs in the caring professions due to biology. That's all social norms, constructs and stereotypes.

You are researching with a totally fixed ideology in mind - that social norms and stereotyping creates these divisions in working practices.

If you think biology plays no role in these things, I really think you are very very mistaken.

hamstersarse · 30/06/2020 23:13

I like mowing the lawn too @LightenUpSummer

however the little bracket things on the handle of my lawnmower are broken so it keeps collapsing while mowing. Yes, I’ve tried to fix it but honestly I could do with a man to look at it Grin

7Worfs · 30/06/2020 23:15

Haven’t RTFT but in our house anything I don’t want to do is a man’s job. Wink

It’s usually stuff like cleaning particularly manky areas, bathrooms and kitchens. Car stuff. Technology stuff. The boring parts of gardening.

SueEllenMishke · 30/06/2020 23:19

No hamster im talking from experience. Years, and years of experience and research. I wouldn't still be employed as an academic if I had a fixed ideology and let that influence my research. That's not how it works.

I'm not denying biology but you are massively undersestiming the influence of social constructs.

SueEllenMishke · 30/06/2020 23:20
  • underestimating
LonginesPrime · 30/06/2020 23:21

I am a single parent, have been for 11 years. Which is why I can say what I said.

Well, I've been a single parent for 14 and a half years, so I may also have an opinion. And by your logic, my opinion carries 31% more weight than yours. Hmm

It is not sexist to say that men and women usually have different strengths. It is true!

No-one said it was sexist to acknowledge the difference between the sexes - you're straw-manning there. This thread is about assigning specific roles to sex classes based on gender stereotypes.