The Student Room Group

should the man be the head of the house?

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Reply 260
Original post by Red one
I suspect this is aimed at me. If sticking to what I know makes me ****ing stupid people in your opinion so be it.

What is exactly wrong with letting the man run the household? Men have been successfully overseeing their households from the beginning of time and it's worked perfectly fine imo. Why change something that works? My dad runs my house and his dad before him and so on. Traditions remind us of what's important.


The only reason I can think of for wanting a woman to run the house is just to be different and edgy that is be "modern". :bee2:


Actually, it is traditional for the woman to decide what happens in the home and how the kids are raised. In many traditional cultures it is the house wife that decides how much money is spent and on what. Why? Because traditionally the man is out earning money and he has no time to spend on the particulars of the house hold, although he is always consulted for the important decisions, and he is traditionally the one that decides who his daughters/sons marry. Women are traditionally the home makers, they are the head of the household, whilst the man is the 'pater familias' who earns the money and has the authority outside home affairs. Think Italian matrone, lady of the house etc.

These are the traditional roles
Women: give directions to staff (and if there is no staff do the actual house work-cook, clean, laundry, sewing), decide how the home is decorated, organise dinner parties (make the menu, decide on table setting, cook if there is no cook, send out invitations etc.) , give their husband face (by looking good, being elegant and sophisticated, making friends with important people's wives etc.), raise the kids (help with homework, scold-if serious involve husband, console, give advice, dress them, teach them how to be respected members of society etc), support the husband (if asked for give advice, trust husband, love him and show him that, admire him).

Men: earn the money to take care of the family, give the wife face (having important friends to bring to the wife's social events, being respectable, restrained and gentlemanly, earning enough to sustain a good quality of life), give away daughter's hand in marriage, help wife when she cannot do something physically demanding if there is no personnel, make executive decisions when wife brings matters to his attention

Note: I do not think a relationship needs to fit this description to be happy and successful.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 261
No gender "should" anything

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