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my answer isn't on there. we both work full time and he does ALL of the housework while i take night university classes.

he's peach. honey if you read this you're a peach.

Yes, we need options for men who don't help and women who don't help.

There's this great service that I use and highly recommend. They come in and clean wearing these sexy little outfits. It's very helpful. :-)

Anyone else disturbed by the photo? No? Just me? okay then....

When I cohabitated, my boyfriend threw everything wherever (and expected to find it back in its usual spot) and cleaned either the bathroom or the kitchen about once every three months. So yeah, the housework was done by me. He did cook pretty regularly, though. Not so bad.

There really should be a survey option for "I am a woman and I have a partner who does more than their share of the housework."

I have to be honest - I clicked on the 2nd choice because it's the closest answer, but my husband (god love him) does way more than his fair share of the housework. He is a neat freak (bordering OCD), and our deal is that he can organize/clean things however he wants (which often means my stuff gets moved without my knowing) but that he does the main bulk of the cleaning. He loves doing the dishes, folding laundry, and keeping our apartment clean. And having my stuff moved around is a small price to pay for a husband who happily washes the sinkful of dishes when he gets home from work.

It is really wonderful.

There should be an option for "I am a woman and I do the overwhelming majority of the housework because I am a freelancer and am home more (though I work as many hours) and just reading this question gets me all cranky about the disparity in our efforts. Grrr."

We're going to have a talk tonite!

I agree with cblls, my man does most of the cleaning (thanks sweetie!). Now that we have laundry in the main part of the house (as opposed to the creepy unfinished basement), I'll pitch in with that much more often. I blame my mom for the lack of the cleaning gene, oh and the collector gene I did inherit.

Boy, all of this reminds me I really need to get going on my outbox for the Cure!

used to have a live in BF that did pretty much nothing (just his punday sometimes), and i was asking him alal the time, but ending up doing all myself.
now im without BF and i do all myself.
so nothing has changes beside that now i pick up only my shit not his.
MUCH better.

but im absolutly for equal time in housework. just have to find one that shares my view. AH...

Scary Photo...

Is it crazy to admit that I am a woman who does most of the cleaning (if not all) and LIKES it that way? He picks up the kids' toys and empties the dishwasher if I ask, which is nice, but I don't ask very often anymore. I clean better and I am home more often. If he cleaned better or spent more time in the house, he could do more, I guess. He does do the grocery shopping, though, and I love him for that. :)

We both do about the same amount, though I have to orchestrate everything and nudge him occasionally.

Uh... we're both men, and he helps when he can, so I voted with the last option, but if you're trying to divide between genders, I'm throwing off your data. Since my name is on the mortgage and he works out of town, I tend to try to have it pretty clean by the time he gets there, though.

I got lucky with this one... we each do the chores the other hates and don't even think twice about it. He even cooks! This could be because he's a bit older than I am - who knows.

I didn't respond to the survey because in my household we have differing opinions about what constitutes as clean. I guess I have a lower tolerance for clutter and dusty counter tops.

So in a given week, I'll usually give up and pick up, dust and give the bathroom a once over because I just can't stand it anymore. This is not to say that I am waiting around hoping that he'll break before I do.

I've pretty much accepted that if I want things as clean as I like them, then I'll have to be responsible for that. But if I asked him to pick up or clean something he'd do it. Just not the bathroom. I haven't been able to get him to clean the bathroom. Not once in our 6 years of living together (three of them married). What gets me is that he used to keep his studio super clean when we were dating. When I point that out, he just smiles but doesn't offer to clean the bathroom. Sheesh.

I am shocked by the number of hours people spend on housework. I think I spend maybe 3-4 hours a week, cooking included. Once a month, maybe a 'big clean' 2 hours. Oh, but I loathe homework. No neat freak.

kr: ditto.

I'm with the rest of the pack--I am a woman with a partner who does almost all of the housework. I have a ridiculously high tolerance for mess, and a low, low tolerance for cleaning... Luckily, I'm shacked up with a darling man who loves to keep house!

The study's a crock. Notice they specifically didn't include yard work and car maintenance. What, these aren't tasks necessary to keeping an orderly household?

I didn't check a box either.... since I live alone and do all the housework. I agree with kr, that's a lot of hours to clean! I do a quick cleaning maybe every other night for 1/2 hour or so, then a "deeper" cleaning a couple hours when it needs it, usually once a month. Then again, I have a pretty small apartment, and no rugs.

I work full time in an office and my husband works from home where he appears to spend the day taking objects out and scattering them across every available surface -- floors and seating included.

He also can't seem to find the wastebin, hamper, or the kitchen sink and generally stays up later than I do so I spend at least 15 minutes in the morning before he gets up tidying up from the previous night and another 20-30 in the evening when I come home.

I literally can't relax with too much visual clutter and am wondering if anyone has heard of any therapies that might help me to learn to relax in the midst of the chaos. I'm exhausted more from fretting over the state of our apartment than I am from the actual cleaning!

Hey, my man does more of the housework too! Oh, and I'm a woman, and we both work full time. It's true I'm busy breastfeeding twins, but honestly he did more of the housework even before they came along.

It seems like a lot of us would have chosen that answer if it were an option.

People clean 13-17 hours a week? No wonder my place is a mess.

i agree with shawn -- i do a lot of the housework, but hubbie takes care of all the house-related work that doesn't happen inside the house. i guess we fall into stereotypical gender roles, but it works for us.

one picks up after the cats and throws away the trash, the other does the dishes, bed and clothes. we both pitch in during the weekend (1 hour) to vacuum and dust. Whenever friends come over they say it's the cleanest home they've ever been in; we just chuckle.

I think after money issues, women feeling that their husbands don't participate in housework is one of the most common reasons people get divorced.

My last boyfriend kept the household organized and sparkling—AND he cooked.

But here's the thing: he didn't even live with me!

He kept his home AND my home clean. (It actually kind of drove me nuts, to be honest.)

I don't think I could ever live with someone who was a bigger slob than me. I've been spoiled.

Hiring housekeeping help initially saved my marriage (we divorced anyway, but not because he was a slob).

My new and improved partner is equally committed to a clean home, but housekeeping support is still a must. We work full time and spending our evenigns or weekends cleaning shower tile or mopping floors feels a lot like more work. It's worth the $150/month to have someone come bi-weekly and handle the deep-clean maintenance. All the rest is easy (change the sheets, do the dishes, pick up clutter, and take out the trash).

I'm sorry, but that picture makes me laugh. I like how he's also talking on a cell phone while vacuuming.

Guess what? Women create more housework for women too!

I am a very messy person. I don't think two messy persons like me could live together. I think one of them must to be tidy. I am a woman. There are also very untidy women in this world.

I have a male roommate who does nothing and doesn't care. The other girl in the house and I do everything. I'm not even getting a good relationship out of this.

We've started putting his dirty dishes in his bed. Aren't I too old for this?

Shawn:
Yard? Car? what are these fabulous inventions of which you speak?:) With small being so cool these days, I would imagine a fair number of survey respondents are only contending with the interior 500-700 sq ft that they call home and take public transportation.. but that being said, if you have em, yes, the maintenance of yard/car is also valuable house-related work..

I'm a woman and I do most of the housework, but that really doesn't bother me. My main squeeze contributes in so many other ways. Like fixing the toaster oven and my sewing machine, for instance. We each have our strengths.

"I am shocked by the number of hours people spend on housework. I think I spend maybe 3-4 hours a week, cooking included. Once a month, maybe a 'big clean' 2 hours. Oh, but I loathe homework. No neat freak."

I do call myself a "neat freak", but I too am shocked people spend that many hours cleaning. I spend about 45 minutes on the weekend cleaning the house, maybe a half hour to 45 minutes a day picking up, tidying, vacuuming and doing dishes every day, and an hour and a half doing the laundry every weekend. That's maybe 9 hours a week, and I feel like that's quite a bit. If I added in cooking, it'd be about 12 at the very most. I will stop feeling like my husband is making messes and a lot of work for me now. And I will feel sorry for whoever spends 20 hours a week cleaning. Geesh.

I do still adore my husband though, even though he makes messes. :)

Hmmm - I think the survey is limiting - assume folks are hetrosexual.

Telling that the picture of the man doing housework is in drag - couldn't he be in men's clothing doing housework?

Plus if we need an image of a man in drag doing housework lets look to the Queen video - I want to break free http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hMrY8jysdg

Yeah Freddie!

"i am a woman who does all the housework because i decided to move in with a 21 year old child"
my fault.

I'm a woman, living with a man, and I think we're around 50/50. What I love is that we tend to spur each other on... if I come home from a long day and he's had time to tidy the house, vacuum, etc. I appreciate it SO much. Isn't it so nice to leave an average/messy house and return to a clean(er) one? Heck, even small amounts of tidying are really nice to come home to. So, next time I have the chance when the roles are reversed I'll return the favour. It makes cleaning something nice to do together or for each other, rather than a totally boring chore.

I can imagine it would be tough to get motivated, though, if I felt like I were doing it all! I feel for those of you that answered under the first option!

I live alone, maybe spend a few hours a week, total, cleaning and doing yard work. When I lived with my ex I spent 3 times that amout of time cleaning and didn't have a yard!

of course you're assuming that responsers are in hetero couples.

My husband cooks more than half the time and also washes the dishes about 85-90% of the time. He also mops the kitchen floor (though that takes place as frequently as I try to get him to do it).
We take turns cleaning the bathroom. I take care of vacuuming. We both split the laundry (laundromat trips are mutual trips).

However, and this is a big however. I appreciate all he does, but his standard of cleaning is just not the same as mine. (And from a casual survey of all my girlfriends, this is not an uncommon problem -- men are doing more of their fair share a lot of times, but they don't have the same standards of cleanliness).

I pick up things in the living room and bedroom, our shared areas. I have my office in the living room, and I keep that as decent looking as possible. He has his own study/room, and it is a sty. But for the sake of our marriage, I bite my tongue and leave his space to him.

I also have to bite my tongue about the kitchen, and he doesn't wash up after cooking until the next day a lot of times, lets the dishes and pots/pans pile up... Also when cooking, he makes messes and spills a lot more than I do. After he washes dishes, he doesn't wipe up the water on the counters.

He's a student with more time, and I'm a fulltime worker bee, so I let him do all these things more. Fortunately, he's a great cook.

Sigh. Yes, there are days...

I am a woman and my man wishes he'd get more help. I am responsible for some specific tasks (technical as well als cleaning) but for most of them (cleaning, tiding) I need to be reminded every other day. But all of my results are fully approved (“perfect” / “more than I would have done”).

Not everyone fits the sterotype. Although most people (and therefore most studies) like to simplify things it's time to be more realistic.

The following (additional) options come to my mind:
1) i'm a woman, my man does all the nontechnical, non-car-related, “inner” housework.
1a) it works fine for both of us,
1b) he would rather need my help as (some of) the results are not the way i want it,
1c) he would rather want my help.
2) i'm a woman, my man does ALL the work: the inner house-, yard-/garden-, car-, technical and fixing work
a/b/c/ as above
3) i'm a woman, my man does all the technical, car-/ yard related, work. I ‘m resposible for the inner housework.
a/b/c/ as above
d) I /he would like to switch.
3) I’m a woman, I do some of the inner housework, and some of the technical /science work. He does the rest.
a/b/c/d as above
e) I would rather need my help as (some of) the results are not the way he wants it,
f) I would rather want more help
4-6) I’m a woman, my female partner does …..similar to 1/2/3
7-9) I’m a man, my lady does ….similar to 1/2/3
10-12) I’m a man, my male partner does ….similar to 1/2/3
13) I’m a woman, my man and I have hired help for / ask relatives /friends for
a) regular inner housework
b) peridical inner housework
c) special tasks connceted to cleaning, tiding, organizing, ( personal e.g. changing a light bulb / cleaning the windows)
d) regular technical /yard work e) peridoical rechnical /yard work
e) special tasks connecetd to small repairs (personal e.g. fixing the computer / changing tires for winter)
14) I’m a woman, my femal partner and I have hired help for / ask relatives /friends for as in 13)
15) I’m a man, my lady and I have hired help…
16) I’m a man, my male partner and I have hired help …
17) I’m a woman, I live alone …
a) I do all the work without (personal) help
b) I have hired help / ask relatives/ friends
I) as 13a) II) as 13b) …….
18) I’m a man I live alone .. see 17)

(Note: “I’m biologial a man/ woman but I feel like I ought to be woman/ man” please tick the gender you think you belong to)

19) OTHER, please specify

That doesn’t produce easy to read results but it is closer to the truth than persons selecting an inapropiate answer
(... and it is very pc).

(sorry for the long post and mistakes, English is not my first language)

(...and sorry for all those peculiar characters which once had been inverted commas. I wonder why it worked at point no.2.)

Hi everyone: I didn't include gay/lesbian relationships in this particular poll not because of any bias, but because the cited survey was studying married heterosexual couples. Well, and also as shown above, the survey could have become ridiculously long. But I'm glad people spoke up in the comments and shared what was going on in their household irregardless of relationship status.

Why not have a survey asking how people in lesbian and gay relationships split the workload?

EVERYONE makes a mess sometimes. & i'll tell ya what, i'm a girl & there is a good reason i'll NEVER room w/ a chick again. girls are a mess. they have makeup & products everywhere. they are the ones that tend to buy display towels, fake flowers, & cute things. no thanks. considering that option, i'd much rather clean up after a guy.

I live alone and used to feel guilty about my mess. So now I spend 60 bucks every 2 weeks to have someone else lug the vacuum up three flights of stairs, wash the floors and dust the picture frames. I have to pick up so that she can clean up, of course, but nothing beats the joy of arriving to a spotless, dust-free, fresh-smelling house that I didn't have to scrub.

Should have done this years ago. :)

I used to do the laundry, cooking, cleaning, taking the trash out, AND all the technical things like home repairs AND I took his car in for repairs...he didn't do anything except watch the game and yell 'What's for dinner?" I unloaded my 200 lb infant (Bitter, party of one!) and now my time spent doing housework has plummeted and it has become much more pleasant...AND my house is much cleaner and stays that way longer.