Day-to-day problems at home seem small at first. In the beginning of your relationship, you might laugh at your partner’s “quirks”. But as time goes on, these issues pile up. Suddenly, you realize that these lead to irreconcilable differences over your lifestyle habits. According to a Harvard Business Study, as much as 25% of divorce cases happen because there is a disagreement over household chores. In this article, I may refer to “husband” and “wife” a lot throughout the article. But a lot of these points can be applicable to any gender.
30. Sharing the Chores
Most people (including myself) would assume that by sharing the household chores 50-50, a modern couple would be happier. But according to a study from Norway, splitting up the household chores was actually one of the causes of major arguments in marriages, and made them more likely to get divorced. On the flip side, marriages where a woman had a more traditional role of doing all of the housework while her husband worked 40 hours a week seemed to stick together more often. However, studies from the United Kingdom contradict that. They say that 3 out of every 10 divorces were triggered by a partner not being willing to pull their own weight around the house. So, maybe this is a cultural problem.
But no matter where you live, no one wants to be in a relationship where they feel like they are the only one putting in the effort. Have an open and honest conversation with your partner about household chores- ideally before you get married. For example, I genuinely don’t mind doing laundry, dishes, dusting, and vacuuming. Since I work from home all day, I use these chores as a good reason to get up, stretch, and rest my eyes from the computer screen 15 to 20 minutes at a time. But I hate cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors. So if I was with a man who was willing to do those two chores (or hire a maid) then we’d be fine. But if I fail to communicate and establish those boundaries, it’s going to lead to relationship issues or divorce.