Clay's final thought

An interesting thought, what do they consider housework?
As we all know, everyone has their own concept of housework, it is all relevant.
Wondering why is it in Korea men contribute more to the housework... Honestly from my knowledge of Asia men, rarely does one find them contributing to housework, unless the wife has trained him to be domestic...From my understanding that is a problem in their relationships.
I remember a few years ago, men in Japan were having difficulty finding Japanese women to marry, as the women were more career oriented and no longer interested in marriage. If they were interested in marriage, it would be more likely a marry a westerner; as for Japanese women, they believe men from the west are more committed to the wife and marriage, romance, and spend time with the family; whereas Japanese men were committed to their careers, therefore much of their time outside of work was to socialize and build relationships with other businesses; having extra marital affairs as well, as the wife's primary duty was to take care of the family and home.

I grew up with my Jewish mother doing practically everything for me. This created an attitude where I felt that the world owed me something.

The truth is that no matter what country we live in, we have to each do our part to contribute to our community, our culture, and the world. If everyone had this perspective we could have a much more dynamic interchange with other countries and cultures. We would all be contributing our best skills. I think that a book needs to written that takes the best part of each cultural tradition and compiles it into a new blend of really cool ways of being, acting, and doing and in that way we would be able to help each other more easily and effortlesssly on a local and international level.

We have things to learn from China and China has things to learn from us. As long as we stay open and willing and caring enough there are infinite possibilities for growth.

I was not surprised by the percentage of housework help men contributed in Korea. I read several articles where the rise of educated and working class women and the rise in their independence was the topic of discussion. I think that modernity has to do with it and that current trends have started this slight swing of power away from the male population. In Japan, it still seem as if men are still the dominant workers in the economy (higher positions)
--so maybe that's why the level of housework is different between Korea and Japan...

It is definitely interesting to discuss gender roles in the household and as teachers, I realized that gender roles are definitely not only confined in the household. By the time out students reach our classroom, they bring with them the gender roles or gender stereotypes that have already been engendered into them either through their family or societal influences. As a teacher, we have the wonderful opportunity to widen our student's notions of gender norms. When choosing monitors or volunteers to help out in the classroom, I am always cautious not to assign roles according to gender stereotypes. For example, I am mindful not to always ask a female student to help clean the classroom or never to only ask boys to help carry things. Perhaps, giving all students opportunities to participate in all classroom activities including classroom housekeeping might extend these new gender norms to their homes as well.