poirot,

Women work more part-time jobs, and for fewer years than men. It's politically incorrect to say so but there are very few women who want to work after fifty. Many women feel 'tired' and 'entitled' to rest. The problem is they are going to live for more than 30 years still. It's also a well known fact that health care costs grow exponentially with age. So we have a situation where men work longer and harder and then die earlier (thus saving society substantial health costs).

Men don't like to talk about it because they enjoy being the provider and supporting a family but at some point we need to have an honest debate.

Then we get Cherful's tired old cannard about how hard it is to raise small children. Blah, blah, blah. What rubbish. Most men now work full-time and then come home to help with the kids. I know women with small kids who do absolutely nothing at home. No cooking, cleaning nothing. They reckon their job is to look after the kids and then when the hubby gets home he has to cook and clean. I would put money on it that you would be one of these women Cherrful. Bleating on constanstly but doing nothing.

Pelican you are right that individual examples don't necessarily correlate to a whole gender. But the systemic institutional biase against men is a commonality. Not all women are vindictive. If they break up they only want a fair separation and then move on. Unfortunately, there is a significant minority of women who become extremely vindictive if a relationship fails. They can destroy their partner at will. All the power is in the women's hands and there is no natural justice for men.

NB: Cherful: I didn't force your daughter to have children so don't blame me if she is unhappy. Why didn't she stop at one or not have any at all? Is she responsible for her own decisions or not?

dane,

Oh, I see - you are referring to work that is conducted outside the family home for a wage.
No doubt there are men and women who fail to pull their weight in both spheres - work and home - however, I think you dismiss too lightly "work" that is not undertaken outside the home.
As to your comment to Cherful about the hard work involved in raising a child - your "blah, blah, blah. What rubbish" says more about you than it does about the reality of such an undertaking. Have you ever simultaneously raised small children, kept house and worked outside the home? Many, many women do this as a matter of course these days and are exhausted from their efforts.
I choose to work at home and raise my children. My day is very full and very satisfying - but perhaps not the sort of mind-numbing wage slave work that you seem to think is the only sort that matters.
You obviously believe that work carried out in the home has negligible value to society.
I disagree.

Pelican

Most divorces are initiated by wives and the most plausible theory I have heard about this is that they tend to keep the kids. Walking away from kids is much harder than leaving a dud marriage. Similarly, those few women who left husbands several decades ago led a fairly dim life. Today, it is possible for her to have a reasonable life without the hubby.

I am more concerned by the number of breakups that turn toxic, rather than the raw number of divorces. Limiting the free kicks given to women who choose to use them might be a good place to start.

Dane

It is hard to generalise about division of labour as there is a large spectrum amongst both genders. What concerns me is the stereotype of the over-worked housewife. It leads to alot of women who feel entitled to alot of me time, without stopping to consider whether she really pulls her weight.

At our saturday night bar-b-que one of the blokes wondered, out loud, [very brave of hin], how his 5 hours of mowing, edging, & weeding was supposed to be fun, but her 2 hours of sticking some washing in a machine, then moving it to the drier, with 1.5 hours of TV watching during this chore, was considered hard work.

The unholy uproar, from the ladies, that greated this little gem led to the blokes deciding to wander off to somewhere quiter. This was achieved completely hidden by the cloud of indignation.

Nothing like a community bar-b-que to bring out the best in people.

Hasbeen,
You hit the nail on the head. The problem is that many women actually do think that 5 hours of male work is equal to them putting on the washing and then complaining about it for the next 4.5 hours. They really do feel they are that important. The proof is in their completely irrational response to anyone who challenges them. Look at Poiret's response. She went from my claim there is a substantial minority of women who are lazy to extrapolate about entirely unrelated things.

Poiret
"You obviously believe that work carried out in the home has negligible value to society."
This is another female cannard. You are trying to equate all women's work with all men's work regardless of individual circumstances i.e. the laziest and most indolent woman with the most industrious male. In any case, I wish you the best of health but if you ever do have a health crisis, I hope the doctor doesn't treat you like just another load of washing. And lastly: it was feminists who devalued women's role in the house so don't blame men for that.

dane,
I don't see this as a men verses women conundrum - I see it as an imperative dictated by modern consumer society - Everybody is encouraged to get out there into the workplace...work...get paid...rush back out and spend the money (preferably before you've actually earned it), etc, etc, etc.
I'm not trying to equate one type of work with another...that , in my opinion is a useless exercise. Most occupations are valuable in one way or another. Don't just blame the feminists. The whole of industrial society colluded to push women out of the house.