Evening star., 1942-09-25
World Changes,
But Husbands
Never Will
Head OF the House.
Doesn't Offer to
Share Duties
Bv Dorothy Dir

Share Duties
By Dorothy Dir
Dear Miss Dix: I am combined
business and domestic woman. I
work in an ONCE from 9 o'clock to
$50 every day and from then on
until I drop exhausted into my bed.
I cook and clean and wash and
iron and mend and patch, keeping .
five-room house going concern.
This is hard enough, but my work
is made harder by my husband. who
is 80 inconsiderate and thoughtless
that he has caused me to lose all
the love I ever had for him. He
not only never helps me With any
of my work, but he scatters things
all over the place. He leaves his
shoes and socks In the living room
and If he should ever hang up his
clothes I would drop dead with sur
prise.
Never once since we have been
married has he washed the dishes.
I do not ask or expect him to do
the housework, but I think 1t Is
only his duty at least to wipe the
dishes and WELD a broom once IN
a while, sweeping out some Of the
dirt he has brought in. I put SIS
Of my salary in the bank each week
in his name, but he has never
thanked me for this or shown any
appreciation for my trying to help
him pay OF some Of our heaviest
debts while we are buying q home.
I am 30 discouraged I am think.
ing Of leaving him as we have no
children and I am self supporting.
There Is no question Of any other
man, Miss DIX. I have had enough
Of husbands. A READER.
Answer-As have said many
times before In this column, in this
modern world OF ours, we got new
Eve, but we've got the same old
Adam and this has brought about
many domestic complications that
we have not 20 far been able to
adjust.
One Of the most important Of
these Is the status Of the husband
In the families in which both the
wife and the husband work out
side the home. What are the hus-
bands duties? What are his obi
cations? What has . wife to ex-
pect Of her husband9
What are the wife's duties and
what has . husband . right to ex-
pect from her? What Is . fair
division Of labor and money for the
upkeep Of q home?
In former times when the hus-
band was the sole breadwinner It
was obviously the wifes part to
cook without sending out an SOS
call to her husband for help. When
the wife had nothing to do all day
but to keep her house there was no
excuse for her to call on her hus-
band for assistance unless she vss
sick.
But now, when the wife 20 often
follows some gainful occupation
and works just as hard and as many
hours Is her husband does, the
whole setup Is changed. It Is lust
- much his duty to do Q share Of
the houSework as It Is hers, even
more 50, because he is stronger and
more able to bear the burden Of a
double Job than she Is.
Yet few men are big enough and
broad enough and unselflsh enough
to accept this viewpoint Of the
modern relationship between hus-
bands and wives. In practically all
OF the households Of working cou-
pies you viii md women rushing
home from their Offices, stopping to
buy the groceries with their little
Lists and then tearing home to cook
dinner and clean up the house
while their husbands lounge around
reading the afternoon paper and
listening to the radio.
They don't offer 90 much a. to
peel the potatoes or straighten up
the living room or do any Of the
tasks that they know their wives
must perform no matter how their
backs ache from bending over q
typewriter all day, or how their feet
nurt from standing behind q
counter.
And mems excuse that they dont
know anything about housework
doesn't 60; they could learn. The
best chefs In the world are men
and no woman ever cleans up a
room as Immediately as a steward
does on q ship.
Probably most men don't realize
how unfair they are being to their
wives in making them do all the
housework when they are also help
Ing to support the house. They
Just treat their wives as grandpa
treated his, forgetting that erand-
ma had only to fry the bacon, she
didn't have to bring 1t In. But It
Is time husbands walked up to the
fact that they have got to do their
part or else Eve will put on her
bonnet and walk out on them.
Teeth Give You Away
Teeth don't show the heart y
That In n Aavfinin,,. .>A..~,