For those of us marrieds who, instinctively, have always
relished our share of the household chores as essential to a happy
home, statistical support appeared recently to hand. Dr Wendy
Sigle-Rushton of the London School of Economics and Political
Science studied divorce outcomes in 3,540 married British couples
and reported her findings in the catchily labelled "Men's
Unpaid Work and Divorce: Reassessing Specialization and Trade In
British Families".
"Respect" to LSE's marketing because somehow,
despite the dull label, this caught the attention of the Press and
we had the Dail Mirror tell us "Home help husbands stop
splits" (14 May 2010), The Independent "Divorce less
likely if fathers help out" (Ellen Branagh, 14 May 2010), The
Daily Telegraph "Divorce twice as likely when husbands neglect
housework" (Martin Beckford, 14 May 2010) and Timesonline
"Husbands who help in house less likely to divorce" (13
May 2010). Significant and serious stuff then.
