Reader comments
The winners and the losers

Regarding men doing more housework now than 40 years ago. Forty years ago more men were doing manual labor outside the home. More women were at home full-time. Division of labor was set more by the circumstances than any moral failure of men. Also, although the house work was more physical, (less convenient appliances), there was less housework, due to less material goods and less cultural demands. One immense difference, was that the lack of a television made for a more mindful and meaningful home life for the entire family.

amen, lonheart...couldn't have said it better

Lonheart Forty years ago it took one income to have a household. We had TV. Then, a banana was an exotic fruit.

I recall my next door neighbor's father tearing up their house and beating his wife and terrorizing his children in fits of rage. Roy was a veteran who served in the Pacific Theater. Looking back, Roy had post traumatic stress disorder. Gary, his son turned out to be gay.

You have an idealistic view of then.