The New Egalitarian Domestic Regime

I wish I could say that the following is part of a Saturday Night Live skit, but no dice. The Spanish have just become cutting edge in the gender wars by legalising same sex "marriage," and now want to prove they've completely lost their minds by offering a plan to legislate the breakdown of housework.

Spanish men will be required to scrub toilets and change nappies as often as their harried wives under revolutionary reforms aimed at shattering the traditionally macho Latin nation's patriarchal division of labour in the home.

Changes to the marriage contract supported by the Socialist Government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, along with conservative Catholic and right-wing politicians, will force men and women to promise not only fidelity but equal shares of housework, childrearing and care of the elderly until death they do part.

Admittedly, there's no enforcement mechanism. But this is just the set-up to pit husbands and wives into episodic fits of reproaches and false expectations, since it takes one of the most traditional cultures and crams it into the mold of a "feminist paradise." And it will have consequences if the marriage breaks down:

The new egalitarian domestic regime could dramatically alter the state of divorce in Spain, because judges will now consider men's commitment to this pledge when ruling on separations and access to children.

Great. Rather than working two jobs to make sure the children are taken care of, the father will take it in the shorts for not having the laundry folded. And women will have both laws and technology in their corner:

Attempts to blast Spanish males out of their cosy reliance on women as girlfriends, wives, chefs, cleaners, childcarers and custodians of the elderly include technological changes to household appliances. The latest washing machine, named "Your Turn", prevents the same person - typically a wife and mother - from using the appliance consecutively by adopting fingerprint recognition technology.

These are the same feminist who demand that the government get out of their bedrooms, right? And now they grab the politicians by the collar and demand that they pitch a tent in the bedroom, the bathroom, and every corner of the house where work is done. Can't regulate what goes on between the sheets, but only who washes them each week -- ah, I get it.

Death spiral in marital relations intensifies. Insanity rules.

Comments

[Teresa]

The "Your Turn" washing machine?? I'm betting there was a hefty Spanish tax to come up with THAT brilliant technology! All this palavar about women doing all the housework and men not, you know what? I've seen many a feminist balk when their baby is born and the father attempts to wash, diaper or even wipe the nose of their baby only to be admonished: "You're doing it WRONG!!"