Holiday Gender Roles

A little timely topic to discuss: is there a difference between the responsibilities of men and women during the holidays?

I’d say, "absolutely." Have you noticed that when you get a card from a couple, both signatures and the address are written in the woman’s handwriting? Have you met women who, for some inexplicable reason, do all the shopping for their husband/boyfriend’s relatives? In my family, wrapping gifts is a woman’s job. My entire life, my father has come home from last minute shopping and informed me that I have to wrap a pile of large gifts (and my mother wraps the ones for me). My father has never wrapped a present in his entire life. I’ve seen men take some of the cooking and baking responsibilities, but have you ever seen them frantically cleaning the house for guests? Single women send out cards, buy gifts, put up decorations, and host guests, but single men just don’t do many of these things as they don’t have wives or mothers to do it for them (I know single men, but I’ve never received a Christmas card from one). I’ve made comments at work around the holidays about not having time to write out my cards or buy a grab gift for the office party. The response from the men in my office: "I wouldn’t know, my wife takes care of all that." These wives they’re speaking of aren’t stay-at-home soccer moms, either, some of them are traders on Wall Street.

Yet, men seem to ENJOY these holiday traditions just as much as women. They like the parties, food, and gifts too. They get credit for sending out cards or buying a host gift because their wives thought of it.

I find all this very strange. I enjoy the holidays, so I thought it would be an interesting to discuss the roles of men and women in the festivities.