Honey Laundering: Husbands Help Out More, According to Report

My husband does the laundry. Really. He does.

And now, thanks to a study released by the Council on Contemporary Families, I can tell him he's not alone - that a whole lotta other guys pitch in too.

In fact, over the course of my entire lifetime - 1960s to the current century - men have doubled the amount of housework they do. Laundry included.

AP reporter David Crary (whom I met last week, a nice guy who seems like he'd be open to doing laundry) sought out real world families to illustrate the findings of this study:

"We'll both talk about how we're so lucky to have someone who does more than their share," said Mary Melchoir, a Washington-based fundraiser for the National Organization for Women, who -- like her lawyer husband -- works full-time while raising 6-year-old triplets.

"He's the one who makes breakfast and folds the laundry," said Melchoir, 47. "I'm the one who fixes things around the house."

(Hey, me too! I took apart the dishwasher last month to clean gunk out of the rotating sprayer arms. It was a blast!)

Though the study touts all the great advances men have made in helping out, Crary - thinking like a woman, bless his heart - cites the observations of one expert who points out men have advanced only so far:

Pamela Smock, a University of Michigan sociologist...said a persistent gender gap remains for what she called "invisible" household work -- scheduling children's medical appointments, buying the gifts they take to birthday parties, arranging holiday gatherings, for example.

Ah, yes. Doctor's appointments. Buying gifts. Cooking the turkey. Men still have a ways to go. As do the women who love them.

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