Traditional Gender Roles Don’t Keep Men From Becoming Caregivers

Men may not pick up much housework when their wives fall ill, but they will do just as much to care for their wives as their wives would do for them, a new study finds. Shutterstock

Elderly husbands may devote just as much effort to caring for a sick spouse as their wives might do if the situation were reversed, a German study suggests.

Plenty of research on gender roles among older couples has found women do the bulk of housework even if both spouses have similar amounts of time available for domestic chores, the study team notes. Less clear, however, is whether men take on more caregiving or housework when women get sick.