Same-sex couples divvy up chores more equally, provide tips for straight couples

The Modern Household Fairy wants you to share housework.

The Modern Household Fairy wants you to share housework.

A new study looked at how same-sex and opposite-sex couples divided up chores, and found that same-sex couples were more likely to share housework.

“Katie, that’s both unsurprising and really boring,” you might be thinking. I promise it’s not. Stay with me here.

The big takeaway of the study was this: Same-sex couples are more satisfied with their housework situation because they actually talk about it. 

In this study, gay men reported that they had discussed how to divide chores when they moved in together. Straight women reported that they wished they’d had such a discussion – but they hadn’t, and ended up settled into traditional gender roles, doing more of the work, and being unsatisfied about it.

That’s not to say that perfect equality reigned supreme in same-sex couples: In both same-sex and different-sex couples, the lower-earning partner took on more cooking, for example, while the higher-earning partner did more household repairs. (It’s probably a safe guess that this has to do at least in part with the number of hours worked.) But actually taking the time to talk it out, perhaps somewhat spurred by the lack of gender roles to slide into, made a big difference in satisfaction.

So, straight people: In this as in many things, I recommend you try to act a bit more queer.

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