NEW YORK, March 6, 2008
Light Dusting May Earn Heavy Petting
Study Shows American Men Gradually Doing More Housework, With Sex As A Payoff
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From left, Maggie Rodriguez, Harry Smith, relationship coach Matt Titus and Working Mother magazine CEO Carol Evans discuss the study on The Early Show Thursday (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
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Among other books, Titus is a co-author of this one. (CBS/McGraw-Hill)
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Men who help their wives with housework may find an uptick in sexual activity with their partners, according to a new study. (iStockphoto)
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Play CBS Video Video Men: Pick Up More Than Lines Studies show that men are doing far less housework than the women they live with. Harry and Maggie duke it out with two experts on the best way to motivate men and balance relationships.
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Interactive The Nation We Live In Who are Americans and what do they do? A comprehensive look at our economic, sociological and racial breakdown.
The average dad has gradually been getting better about picking himself up off the sofa and pitching in, according to a new report in which a psychologist suggests the payoff for doing more chores could be more sex.
The report, released Thursday by the Council on Contemporary Families, summarizes several recent studies on family dynamics. One found that men's contribution to housework had doubled over the past four decades; another found they tripled the time spent on child care over that span.
"More couples are sharing family tasks than ever before, and the movement toward sharing has been especially significant for full-time dual-earner couples," the report says. "Men and women may not be fully equal yet, but the rules of the game have been profoundly and irreversibly changed."
Some couples have forged partnerships they consider fully equitable.
"We'll both talk about how we're so lucky to have someone who does more than their share," said Mary Melchoir, a Washington-based fundraiser for the National Organization for Women, who - like her lawyer husband - works full-time while raising 6-year-old triplets.
"He's the one who makes breakfast and folds the laundry," said Melchoir, 47. "I'm the one who fixes things around the house."
Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of "The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework," said equitable sharing of housework can lead to a happier marriage and more frequent sex.
"If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her - he's not treating her like a servant," said Coleman, who is affiliated with the Council on Contemporary Families. "And if a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood."
The report's co-authors, sociologists Scott Coltrane of the University of California, Riverside and Oriel Sullivan of Ben Gurion University, said they were addressing a perception that women's gains in the workplace were not being matched by gains at home.
"The typical punch line of many news stories has been that even though women are working longer hours on the job and cutting back their own housework, men are not picking up the slack," Coltrane and Sullivan wrote.
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psychologist
They said this perception was based on unrealistic expectations and underestimated the degree of change "going on behind the scenes" since the 1960s. The change, they said, "is too great a break from the past to be dismissed as a slow and grudging evolution."If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her - he's not treating her like a servant.
Joshua Colemanpsychologist
Among the findings they cited:
Sullivan and Coltrane predict men's contributions will increase further as more women take jobs.
"Men share more family work if their female partners are employed more hours, earn more money and have spent more years in education," they said.
Pamela Smock, a University of Michigan sociologist who also works with the council, said a persistent gender gap remains for what she called "invisible" household work - scheduling children's medical appointments, buying the gifts they take to birthday parties, arranging holiday gatherings, for example.
Marriage equality is more elusive among blacks than whites, with black women shouldering a relatively higher burden in terms of child care and housework, said council collaborator Shirley Hill, a sociology professor at the University of Kansas.
The report's overall findings meshed with what Carol Evans, founder and CEO of Working Mother magazine, has been observing as she tracks America's two-income couples.
"There's a generational shift that's quite strong," she said. "The younger set of dads have their own expectations about themselves as to being helpful and participatory. They haven't quite gotten to equality in any sense that a women would say, 'Wow, that's equal,' but they've gotten so much farther down the road."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 33 CommentsPosted by rf35 at 05:51 PM : Mar 06, 2008
MMMMMMMMMM, Ham!!!
Posted by ja4vr at 02:07 PM : Mar 06, 2008
When my wife and I got married, we made a deal. If only one works, the other is responsible for the house. If both work, we share the housework.
Posted by erasmus6 at 03:22 AM : Mar 07, 2008
Well, I think only in Arkansas, where the North American redneck can be found at high population densities, would one conceive of a threesome involving a pig. I wouldn''t doubt that at least one ex-President may have done just that (probably had a bit of trouble figuring out which one was the pig too). Yes, I''m nasty!!
posted by rational_1
PIG.:)
Posted by erasmus6 at 04:02 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Maybe a threesome WITH a pig?
Posted by rf35 at 05:51 PM : Mar 06, 2008
"Hate to bust your bubbles but I don''''t live in Arkansas." posted by rational_1
And what the hell does Arkansa got to do with it?
generey at 06:48 PM
I get the same treatment. I am ready to walk my dog with one of my neighbors just to get some.
They got to legalize call girls.
posted by rational_1
PIG.:)
Posted by erasmus6 at 04:02 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Maybe a threesome WITH a pig?
Posted by rf35 at 05:51 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Hate to bust your bubbles but I don''t live in Arkansas.
posted by ja4vr
I agree with everybody else. He is either a control freak or there is something else going on. It is one thing for a guy to help out with some things but when he is going to this extreme there has to be something wrong with him. I always question a person that is just TOO nice.
Posted by erasmus6 at 04:07 PM : Mar 06, 2008
He just heard about this before the rest of us and is milking it for all it''s worth!
posted by rational_1
PIG.:)
Posted by erasmus6 at 04:02 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Maybe a threesome WITH a pig?
Husband: What''s left of a sweetheart, after the nerves been removed.
I agree with everybody else. He is either a control freak or there is something else going on. It is one thing for a guy to help out with some things but when he is going to this extreme there has to be something wrong with him. I always question a person that is just TOO nice.
PIG.:)
Posted by honestabe8 at 02:28 PM : Mar 06, 2008"
If you live alone you can always just give yourself a "hand."
Posted by easeup at 11:22 AM : Mar 06, 2008
I just fixed the car and garage door opener, did some plumbing and built the kids a playscape from scratch - I''m aiming for a threesome with one of the neighbours!!!
Posted by ja4vr at 12:05 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Do you guys get your pedicures at the same place? LOL!!
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