Like a lot of girls of my generation, I was raised to be self-reliant and achievement-oriented. I was expected to do well in school, get a good job and be financially self-sufficient. Homemaking was not really emphasized. So imagine my surprise when, not long after I got married (nay, even before), relatives started asking whether I had been learning to cook. It seemed like everyone had a recipe for me. Of course, the implication was that I wouldn't be cooking just for myself (I'd been living on my own for years, after all), but to feed "my family"-- i.e., Mr. Octopus. No one ever suggested that Mr. Octopus learn to cook for me. Why is there still a difference?
In this day and age, when women are expected to work, why aren't men expected to do housework? Why is it that when women get married they are suddenly expected to focus on cooking, whereas men, upon marriage, are expected to do exactly what they were doing before-- namely, go to work? Seems there is a mixed message being sent to women. It's almost as if being educated and having a career is a way to meet your husband than anything else.
4 comments:
Hey, who made the blueberry and rasberry pancakes this morning?
"nay"?
It was Mr. Octopus who made pancakes, I know.
But I'm asking a question about husbands and wives in general, not about Mr. and Mrs. Octopus. Why are people asking me about cooking? How would men feel about getting those questions asked of them?
Query to which generation do the people belong who asked these questions? Not ours I should hope.
MK
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