Death and gender

I spotted a white-tail spider in our bedroom. It was in the corner, near to the door. Now I know that the reputation of the white-tail is worse than its reality, but I was not having this thing in my (or more importantly, my babies') sleeping place.

I went to the kitchen and returned with a suitable implement. I solemnly informed the white-tail that death was about to rain down upon it.

I struck.

Unfortunately, death rained down slightly to the left of the spider, leaving a little dent in the wall. The second blow was more successful. The spider, half-crushed, fell to the floor and writhed. I finished it off with a third deadly assault, then delicately picked up the remains in a tissue, and disposed of the evidence.

Now thinking about things, this is the sort of thing that is traditionally a man-job. I remember reading an article that said that for today's "modern couple", things are fairly even at the start of the relationship. Man and woman share space and divvy up the jobs more or less 50-50. However, if said man and woman have children, then there is a dramatic change towards the more traditional gender roles (with respect to housework). I think that has definitely been the case for us - but this is in part because I am the stay-at-home-mum. Certain tasks just come with that job description by default.

Here are some of our jobs.

- Cleaning the children - Man job
- Cleaning the toilet - Woman job

- Removal of poo from lawn (animal) - Man job
- Removal of poo from lawn (child) - Woman job

- Cooking in the weekend - Man job
- Cooking during the week - Woman job

- Frying, steaks, cooked breakfast, carving meat, making the coffee - Man job
- Vegetarian fare, baking bread - Woman job

- Taking out the rubbish and recycling - Man job
- Returning the recycling bin to the laundry - Woman job

- Overseeing all matters outside (gardens, house maintenance) - Man job
- Overseeing most matters inside - Woman job

- Fixing stuff - Man job
- Washing, drying, folding the clothes - Woman job

- Heavy lifting - Man job
- Light sleeping - Woman job

- Minding the mortgage - Man job
- Paying the bills - Woman job

- Killing of vermin and nasties (and disposing of bodies) - Man job
- Hogging the computer in the evening - Woman job