Money, power and housework

Many thanks to blogger--and dedicated Mojo Mom Podcast listener--Adena for pointing me to a recent Boston Globe article "The Job Without Benefits" about the complex relationship between men, women, money and housework.

Adena's blog posting is well worth reading along with the original article.

Kudos to reporter Kris Frieswick for taking an unusually throrough look at the structural and invidivual factors that could explain why women still do more housework than men, regardless of, and sometimes in spite of, their outside work.

Frieswick reports the sad paradox that some breadwinning women do more housework in an attempt to neutralize their guilt about working and "deviating" from established gender roles. (Paging Caitlin Flanagan?)

I address many of these issues in my book. My Mojo Mom mantra is: "make the invisible work visible, and then divide it fairly."

It's up to each family to define what "fairly" looks like to them, but it's safe to say that it helps to be able to take guilt and resentment out of the equation. If everyone is contributing and no one feels like they're being taking advantage of, you are on the right track. Easier said than done, but a worthy goal.