A recent study published in the journal Social Politics suggests that men from a more gender-egalitarian country are more likely to feel that it's unfair when they have to perform a greater share of household chores.
This is the first study which examines how men perceive their share of housework and how fair and unfair they find their duties. The study was done surveying responses of about 14,000 married or living as married men and women from across 30 countries. As a whole, women reported doing 75 percent of the housework in average whereas in the case of men, the rate was 31 percent. As these numbers were self-reported by respondents, they don't add up to 100 percent.
The study found that roughly 30-38 percent of men who reported doing at least 50 percent of the housework come from Latvia, Sweden, Poland, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Denmark. About 15 percent or fewer men from Portugal, the Czech Republic, Chile and Japan said they did at least 50 percent of housework.
The most interesting finding from the study is that men from a country like Japan where they are expected to work less inside the house are less likely to consider their share of household chores as unfair. Whereas men from countries like Sweden, Australia and the United States, where egalitarian division of household labour is considered to be a norm, are most likely to believe that it is unfair when they have to perform a large share of household chores.
It seems odd that men from countries where both genders are expected to tackle the household together seem to be more discontent and dissatisfied with their share of work. Sabino Kornrich, assistant Professor of Sociology at Emory University and lead researcher of the study, believes that this odd pattern may be due to the fact that men in these countries are more aware of the chores compared to their counterparts who come from countries where women are expected to take charge of the household.
"We presume that living in a more egalitarian society highlights the importance of housework in general, making men more conscious of it and thereby sparking a more negative response the more of it they do," says Kornrich.
"That suggests there's a norm when men and women live in egalitarian countries that housework is an important, shared responsibility," Kornrich further says.
Men from countries like Japan are less likely to feel unhappy or dissatisfied even if they do a majority of household chores. Kornrich believes the resentment may stem depending on the country they live in.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/02/kornrich_men_housework_2015_press_only/campus.html
https://sp.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/02/sp.jxu030
