Why is laundry only a mother's job?

stacey

March 1, 2016 4:40 PM

“Sorry on behalf of his dad. Sorry on behalf of every dad who set the wrong example.”

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An ad showing the heavy expectations placed on the shoulders of working mums to run their households alone has gone viral, with many women seeing themselves in it.

The Indian ad shows a young mother coming home from work, and simultaneously taking work phone calls, cooking dinner, cleaning up a messy floor while doing the laundry. All the while she serves her husband tea while he demands she clean his clothes while he sits in front of TV on his own PC.

It's an image that crosses borders and cultures.

The ad has had over 11 million views. Screeds of comments across social media show women across the world relate to the video.

It shows the woman's father looking on as she rushes about doing her chores.

He writes her a letter as he watches her, apologizing for not having told her she didn’t have to grow up to be the only one playing house.

“My little girl, you are all grown up now. You used to play house and now you manage your own house and your office. I’m so proud of you and so sorry. Sorry that you have to do all this alone, sorry I never stopped you playing house,” he says.

“I never told you that it’s not your job alone but your husband’s too,” he writes. “But how can I say it, I never helped your mum either and what you saw is what you learned”.

“Your husband must have learned the same from his dad. While playing house he would have pretended to watch TV when you pretended to make tea.

The dad says its not too late for him to change, and the ad shows him going home to his wife and helping her with the laundry.

The ad, which is to sell laundry powder, has won a ‪Glass Lion‬ at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and has a big fan in Facebook COO and gender-fairness campaigner Sheryl Sandberg.

“This is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen – showing how stereotypes hurt all of us and are passed from generation to generation. When little girls and boys play house they model their parents' behavior; this doesn’t just impact their childhood games, it shapes their long-term dreams.

I"n this ‪#‎SharetheLoad‬ campaign, Ariel India, P&G, and BBDO Worldwide show how fathers and husbands can take small steps (like doing laundry) to create more equal homes," Sanburg wrote on Facebook.

stacey