It hasn’t always been this way, but nowadays, men and women usually share household work such as cooking and cleaning.
In today’s story, one young lady shares that in her family the women are expected to clear the table while the men just sit there.
She is not okay with this, and took a stand.
Let’s see how the story plays out…
I (19F) usually go with my parents and my brother to my grandparents house on Sunday for lunch.
Along with other members of my family (an aunt, two uncles, two female cousins and two male cousins).
Since I was little things have always been the same.
Here’s how Sunday lunch always goes…
My grandfather cooks because my grandmother is in a wheelchair and cannot help him.
We arrive and eat and then the women clean up.
I always hated this because the moment we are done eating my aunt stands up and says “Girls, come and help us.”
So while we take away the dishes and wash them the men just sit there and talk.
They don’t even make the effort of putting their fork and knife inside the plate when they are done eating.
They just sit and wait for us to take it away like we are their servers.
She tried to get things to change.
I help every time without saying anything because I don’t want to cause a scene even if it makes me really angry.
Last week I wrote a message in the family group chat saying that on Sunday the men were going to help to clean up because they never do.
My female cousins and my kin backed me up.
But on Sunday when we were done eating just the women got up as usual and my aunt called only for the girls to help.
She wonders if she overreacted.
I felt so angry that I just went to sit on the couch and declared that I was not going to move a finger until the men did.
Obviously nobody did anything and I was furious.
That evening I got a call from my cousin (29F) saying that I was rude for refusing to help and leave them to do all the work.
So I said that she never told this to her dad or any of my male cousins and hung up the call.
Now I’m thinking that I might have gotten to angry and overreacted?
AITA?
It sounds pretty old fashioned for the women to be expected to clean up and not the men.
I’d be annoyed by this too.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…
This reader calls the family’s attitude “outdated.”
This reader agrees that the behavior is outdated.
Perhaps she should stop going to Sunday lunch.
She needs to hold her ground!
This behavior is going to make the male cousins look bad.
Everyone needs to be responsible for clearing their own dishes.
There is no “women’s work,” unless it’s birthing babies.
If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.
