The Bride and the Broom

We know marriage is a lot of work—but housework? According to research at the University of Michigan, having a husband adds seven extra hours of chores a week; the lucky man loses an hour's worth of cooking and cleaning.

The researchers didn't investigate why, but Francine Deutsch, PhD, professor of psychology at Mount Holyoke College and author of Halving It All: How Equally Shared Parenting Works, suggests that when couples get married, standards of living rise—they move into a bigger place, expect home-cooked meals rather than a Lean Cuisine shoved in the microwave. Women may also accept more conventional roles once they're wives, "paying attention to how the house looks and taking care of their husbands." Overall, though, the study has good news: Women spent nine hours a week less on chores in 2005 than in 1976, while men gained about an hour. "And the inequity," says Deutsch, "is changing around the world."
 
Nagging. We hate it. They hate it. So why can't we stop!?