Experiment No. 4: Freaky Friday

The Basics

We’re Trying to Solve: Getting stuck in a gendered chore rut
Target Audience: Families, housemates
Ages: 3 and up
Category: Household chores
Estimated Time: 10 minutes to 1 hour
Difficulty Level: Fun. One time

Research shows that women tend to do more day-to-day indoor chores and men more infrequent outdoor chores. And that daughters spend more time doing chores than sons, and that sons earn more allowance. This fun experiment is designed to help families break out of those gendered chore ruts.

Directions

1. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. Write "Indoor Chores" on one side and "Outdoor Chores" on the other.
2. Make a list of the indoor and outdoor chores the family needs or wants to do every week, and write down the name of the person who usually does that chore.
3. Take a look at the list and talk about what you notice without judgment. Who takes out the garbage? Who sweeps or cleans up the kitchen? Who mows? Or, if you live in an apartment, who waters the plants, washes windows, or sweeps the porch? Who babysits? Who does more daily chores, and who does more infrequent chores?
4. Swap chores for the week. Each family member picks a chore they don’t typically do. Make a note of the switch up on the list.
5. At the end of the week, get the family together. Voice appreciation for everyone who participated, whether they’ve felt burdened by it, or enjoyed it! Talk about the switch up. If the week was tough, who was it tough for? Who had fun? How can you make the outside/inside split feel fair in the future?

Connect With the Better Life Lab

Are you going to try this week’s experiment? Do you have a story about how you and your own family solved a problem with the work at home? Is there a specific challenge you’ve been trying to tackle? Can this experiment be improved? Please let us know via this form, at bllx@newamerica.org, or in our Facebook group for BLLx Beta Testers.

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