The Atlantic

Doing Dishes Is the Worst

This is now an empirically proven fact. Dishwashing causes more relationship distress than any other household task.
Source: Mardis Coers / Getty

Every day, they slowly accumulate. Plates covered in sauces and crumbs. Bowls with a fine layer of sticky who-knows-what. Forks, knives, and spoons all gummed with bits of this and that. At the end of a long day of work, cooking, cleaning, and, for many, negotiating with small children, a couple has to face the big question: Who is going to do the dishes?

A forthcoming report from the more relationship conflict, less relationship satisfaction, and even sex, than women with partners who help. Women are happier about sharing dishwashing duties than they are about sharing any other household task.

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