Gender roles

After a previous blog post, comments went back and forth about American women not knowing how to change a tire in a little black dress or fix things in their homes.

There are many American men as well who do not know how to change a tire, or even a lightbulb. This isn't just a gender issue.

Although gender roles here seem extremely defined - you rarely find a man who helps with cooking or cleaning, putting the children to bed or going to soccer games that do not matter - the issue is much bigger than that.

Sometimes it is laziness... why do it if I can pay someone else to do it for me? Other times I think nobody knows how to do anything. People here are raised to be dependent on other people or things - hire a maid, hire a babysitter, get your dad to come over and fix this or that, ask your mom to do your laundry. Europeans, for the most part, are raised to make it on their own.

To me it doesn't matter if you are a man or woman. As you grow up, you should be able to become a completely independent person who can live a life full of possibilities and solve any problem that crosses your path. If you've got help, that's great. But you should be able to do it on your own too, just in case.