When we were growing up, we have seen fathers going out of home for work and mothers always tended to the household chores; cleaning, cooking, taking care of the kids etc. These were the stereotype gender roles that have been ruling the institution of marriage.
However, the last few decades have seen a major change in the stereotype gender roles for married couples. The financial pressures, modern lifestyle, women empowerment and gender egalitarianism led to a society where both partners are required to swap their gender specific roles and responsibilities.
Today, most married couples share a mutual understanding; they equally share responsibilities to support each other and to support and comfort their family as a whole. Both life partners are considerate towards each other and switch their traditional gender roles when the need arrives. They participate equally in house hold chores, jobs, out-of-home duties, baby sitting and all household labour tasks.
A relationship without stereotype gender roles is more successful and fulfilling. There areВ many reasons why we should go for a relationship where partners are not bound to gender-specific roles. Some of the most convincing reasons are given below:
1. YouВ Get To Spend Time Together
While cooking, cleaning, laundry and other such house hold choresВ have long been related to women, today, many couples enjoy doing these tedious tasks together. The main advantage of doing these together as a couple is that you get to spend more time together.
One of my colleaguesВ told me thatВ he enjoys cooking with his better half; theyВ get to know each other’s foodВ preferences, they talkВ about their daily routines, they get a closer interaction overall.
Playing parts out of their typical gender specific roles makes partners more close to each other. They get to spend more time together while helping their significant other in performing different tasks at home. A relationship where "we both cook, we both clean, we both shop together" is far more enjoyable and fulfilling as compared to a relationship where each partner is trapped in his ownВ gender role.
2. YouВ Become More Considerate Towards Each Other
You can not feel someone’s painВ unless you put your feet in each other’s shoes. This is so true when we talk about gender specific roles. Now, stay-at-home dads exactly know what theirВ better-halfВ goes through while staying at home; tending to all the house hold chores, taking care of the babies, cooking, cleaning, laundry, managing each and every errand all by themselves. Same is the case for working women, they now realise how much effort their spouses put in to earn a living. Only after working as a career-woman, a lady can understand what kind of multi-dimensional challengesВ her man has to face everyday to ‘put food on the table’.
Both the partners of such relationships become more considerate towards each other.В TheyВ not only realise the difficulties and struggles their life partner has to go through, but they also start acknowledging andВ appreciating each others efforts.
3. You Have More FreeВ Time At Hand
Instead of wasting time in waiting for your spouse to get free, why not to lend him/her a hand? Those couples who help their partners in carrying out different tasks get more free time for each other. They wind-up errands more effectively and efficiently and ultimately enjoy more free time.
For couples, more free time at hand means; more time to have fun, more time toВ do pending tasks, more chances of enjoying leisure time, additional time to properly plan andВ manage things. So, don’t take any task as a gender specific task, do it yourselfВ or help your partner in completing it and then enjoy your free time togetherВ as a couple and family.
4. You Don’t Get Bored Of Your Routine
A relationship where both partners keep on switching their roles in sharing responsibilities and taking up different tasks is far more successful than a relationship with stereotype gender roles. One of the main contributing reasons for this healthy relationship is that both the partners don’t get bored of their life. If a partner is working outside the home to earn money for a few months and then he/she takesВ a break from the monotonous routine of the job and starts staying home to look after the house hold chores and affairs, doesn’t get tired of his routine life. This way, he or she will enjoy both the roles he/she is playing. Whereas many stay-at home momsВ seem to get bored and fed up with their monotonous lifestyle they’ve been living for years.
5. YouВ Have A Higher Self Esteem
A person who gets bored or tired of his daily routine tasks eventually feel that he is not capable of performing well at a given task and will eventually have a low self-esteem. Whereas, those people who get involved in multi-tasking have a higher self-esteem. Couples who do not restrict themselves in gender specific roles get a chance to do a variety of tasks and take up multiple responsibilities. Both the partners in such relationships enjoy a higher sense of achievement and have better self-worth, which makes them better contributing partners in their relationships.
Tell Us
Are you in a relationship without any stereotype gender roles?
Share your experiences with us and tell us how do you feel about relationships with no gender specificВ roles?
