Differences between men and women

When I first came to United Kingdom, I did not notice any difference in terms of how men and women behave here in comparison to Switzerland. It is true that I have not had the oppportunity to experience it by living with a British family or having British flatmates, but I would say that there is a balance concerning the household chores.

Generally, I am prone to thinking that most of the characteristics that make women different from men are due overall to the way they have been brought up. In fact, mothers are more likely to teach their daughters how to run a home, and fathers are propbably more prone to explaining to their sons how to change a tyre. This habit could also be explained by the fact that children tend to identify with the parent of the same sex and, as a result, are used to staying with one of them and copy their gestures as if they were a kind of model to follow.

However, this tendency is changing nowadays...Young people are used to leaving their home to study abroad or in different city to theirs and, to "survive", they have to be able to manage themselves. So, men are kind of forced to learn how to run a home.

But, according to me, this is a characteristic of anglo-saxon countries like the UK, the USA or Australia where universities are quite far away from the citiy centres and provide accommodation for thousands of students. In some other countries, such as Switzerland or Spain, universities are more spread out in the city and there isn't a campus and or any accommodation. So, local students usually live with their parents and don't have to worry about buying and cooking food, doing the laundry, etc..

Furthermore, in Latin countries like Spain, Italy or Portugal, women are expected to do the household chores as if it was a natural skill they have. Men won't ever be told to do something and, if they are, they will warn their wives not to get used to seeing them doing it many times! And the same happens with the children; while a girl would be asked to join her mother in the kitchen, a boy would be asked to join his father in the lounge to watch football on tv.

That is why I think there is a slight difference between anglo-saxon countries and other more traditional countries: it is not only due to the circumstances of life but also (and above all) the culture we have been brought up in.

But I won't lose hope that someday these habits will change for the good of everyone!