Millions of women are set to stop doing housework on August 15 and organizers
of the strike say the stoppage will last as long as it takes for men and kids to realize
that cooking, cleaning, mopping, ironing, vacuuming, washing clothes and dishes and doing
windows and scrubbing the johnnie is NOT women's work only.
All I've got to say is, 'Beware the Ides of August,'" Rhonda Bishop-Morley, of the
firebrand women's rights group, Women Unleashed, told me exclusively.
"Women have come
a long way since the 1950s when we were afraid to demand help around the house because men
controlled the money, and if we complained, they'd cut our 'allowance.'
"Now we're making as much money as men, and in some cases a lot more.
"And yet somehow we're still expected to come home after a hard day at work and
get cracking on 'our' chores.
"Sorry, Charlie. Those days are over. If you think the garbage is stinking up the
house, take it out yourself. While you're up, why don't you vacuum the living room and
scrub the toilet.
"This gal ain't doing it!"
Women Unleashed came up with the idea for a "chore strike" over two years ago
and has been promoting it in women's magazines, on radio and television talk shows and
over the Internet.
Bishop-Morley, who founded the group, claims 2.2 million women have pledged to join the
strike through Internet sign-in screens and "I'm In!" coupons that they clipped
out of magazines.
The unprecedented campaign has been largely ignored by mainstream media because,
according to Bishop-Morley, "the media is male dominated and the last thing men want
are women who demand that they share the housework.
"They'd rather
spend their leisure time flipping through channels on the TV, playing golf or hanging out
with the boys at the bowling alley, sipping cool brewskis like they're kings."
Carroll Allan-Fenster, 34, of Wichita, Kansas, says she hopped on the chore-strike
bandwagon when it occurred to her that she was working 10 hours a day hawking perfume in a
discount department store, and then coming home to a houseful of hungry, smart alecky
teenagers and a hubby "who weren't turning their hands to help with anything."
"It was up to me to cook, clean and do everything else that needed doing around
the house - they refused to even take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the
dryer," she fumes.
"For a long time I thought I was the problem. I thought I was angry because there
was something wrong with me, that I was an unfit wife and mother. But Rhonda and her group
showed me the light.
"There's nothing wrong with me. My husband and kids are bums."
Joining the strike is easy, says Bishop-Morely. All you have to do is stop
"lifting a finger for anyone but yourself" on August 15. Be sure to write to
newspapers and magazines
When your husband and family start whining and complaining, calmly tell them that you
won't be doing chores anymore until they sign a contract agreeing to take over their share
of the housework."
You can negotiate any way you like. If you don't mind cooking, by all means, keep
cooking. Just make other family members sign your contract agreeing to do things you
aren’t so keen on, like cleaning the toilet, scrubbing the kitchen floor or wiping
soap scum off the bathtub and shower curtain."
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"Women have come
a long way since the 1950s when we were afraid to demand help around the house because men
controlled the money, and if we complained, they'd cut our 'allowance.'