Generation Gap

I ran into someone at the fishmonger's. He said, "Oh! You can cook? You don't look like a housewife."

"Hmmmmmph... I like to eat. So, of course I can cook!" said I to myself, silently.

Again, I wondered why anyone would deliberately insult my competence as a wife and mother. I gave an account of this to The Daughter who promptly said, "Mama, it is a compliment! It shows that you are successful enough to not have to cook."

Oh! That is a revelation indeed.

Apparently, young ladies of The Daughter's generation take pride in not knowing how to cook. The young married couples order in via Foodpanda or Deliveroo. Young ladies with a career do NOT want to appear at all domestic, for fear of being thought less competent than men at work. Hence, not being able to cook sends all the right professional signals.

I must admit that this is a very strange idea for me to wrap my head around. I suppose it does make sense though and demonstrates true gender equality. Since the men don't like to do housework, the working women are also eschewing housework.

For laundry, there is the washer and dryer. For the floors, there is the iRobot. Toilet cleaning and ironing can be shared. Many young couples are also choosing NOT to have children. This reduces housework to a minimum.

I am curious how the housework load will be distributed in young families with children. Hopefully, it won't be like for my generation, where women who work also do the larger share of the household chores.