It is so strange how we talk about gender equality and discover the opposite in every aspect of our lives. While men are still doing what they were doing a decade ago women have evolved way too much. They have developed skills which are cumulative while men are still stagnant at what they do. I can quote hundred good areas and fields where women have made their marks. They are running shoulder to shoulder with men in every industry. But having said that the reality hasn’t changed much at the grass root level.

Just to make it a little on the lighter note, here is a little poem which describes exactly what I feel and what I want to convey to all the men out there.

let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

Don’t feel shy, that heap consists more of you and less of mine,
what is that smirk all about, did you find it funny ?
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

Don’t say you are tired, because I am tired too,
the week was equally hectic for me, so don’t make me call you bunny,
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

You get the clothes, I will prep the machine with all it needs,
now move your lazy bum, I don’t want my clothes to miss the weather which is apparently sunny,
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

You might think it is my job, I should do it religiously without asking for help,
but aren’t we equal, for you and I earn the same amount of money,
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

It seems an uphill task, but it isn’t that cumbersome,
All you have to do is feed the machine with everything and wait for it to act like your dummy,
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

Time has changed and so have we, let us strike a deal,
you do it for a week and I do for the next week, don’t expect any mercy because I ain’t your mummy,
Let us do some LAUNDRY honey !

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When I came across this topic I had many realizations and many events and incidents flashed in front of my eyes. Even though you have same working hours as your partner still you are the undisputed house hold responsibility queen. No matter how much we advance in terms of technology, modernity and urbanity but the moment you enter the house the stale ideology of a decade back still prevails. I came across few facts from Ariel survey which shook me, have a look below.

I really don’t have to look around much as I have seen many live examples at my home. Ever since I could understand even a tad bit of household work I have seen my mother worrying about the laundry. It has always been her lookout to keep aside dirty clothes, to reach out to every person in the house asking for clothes so that she can save herself from the pain of doing the laundry again. As I and my sister grew up we shared the pain and hence our lives moved on. My sister got married and she moved to NCR, because of some official work I had to stay with her for a couple of weeks. Just a day or two had passed and one day I heard my brother in law screaming from the bed room “where is my green shirt ?”. To this my sister patiently replied “It is there only, look harder” . Considering the long time since he was digging in the closet he got a little baffled and happened to have a glance at the laundry bag. The shirt was right there lying peacefully. He got a little upset but he held himself and said “You didn’t wash it ?, you should have washed it dear”. “Should have”, I mean really should have.

I felt as if I had a  déjà vu. I could see my mother in my sister as she was facing the exact same thing except for the fact that we were in the twenty first century. Until today I also didn’t realize the gravity of this small household activity. Nobody really talks about it, it just functions like this. I would not really blame men for this behavior, maybe they don’t even know that they have been acting like this ever since. Maybe they need a little shaking up so that they think about this hectic and often being ignored task which is laundry. It is the utmost responsibility of women to make sure that they aren’t doing it alone and express their discontent towards it, you never know you might get help.

To sum up I just want to say that except “giving birth to a new life and suffering from the monthly cycles there is nothing which is to be done ONLY by women.” So when asked #IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob be brave and say a strong NO.

“I am writing for #IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob activity at BlogAdda.com in association with Ariel.”

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