Is yard work/gardening a womans job?

Both my husband and I work in the yard. Why would it be just a man’s job?

In fact, I do most of the yard work since I stay at home and my husband brings home a paycheck.

Oh, boy.

Uh, both men and women…

In fact, I love getting out there and getting dirty/being physical (heavy lifting/dirt under my finger nails and all).

I don’t thnk so.
I love to garden and while I appreciate help ,I don’t need it for I am strong like Supergirl.

I don’t think there should be a man’s work/ woman’s work distinction. I tend to do it and my wife tends not to, probably at least in part because that’s what we’re used to from the days when it was “man’s work”, but also because she just hates it more than I do. But I also do the gardening that might be considered “woman’s work” and I cook and clean too. Basically, the person who likes it most or hates it least should do it, or they should share the responsibility, but it’s something that any couple should determine themselves, not something that should be societally restricted to men’s work or women’ts work.

@jonsblond I didn’t say it man’s job exactly, just whose job it was supposed to be. Me and partner share it, but i tend to the light work jobs as I am not very strong.

Of course it is a woman’s job as well as a man’s. Women are farmers. Women work for Botanical gardens. Women do a lot of horticultural activities. In fact, where I live, I think it is more often a woman’s job than a man’s job.

It’s only a woman’s work if you’re ok with her never ever ever doing it.

Both, but then I don’t believe in splitting most jobs up between the genders.

There is nothing sexier then watching a woman rake.

What? You all know it is true. ;-)

@Dibley If both partners work, then the job should be divided equally. Unless of course one of you enjoys it more. If one of the partners stays home and the other works away from home, it is only fair that the partner that stays home does their part.

@ChazMaz I knew you would say that!

I guess if you think in terms of “too heavy” or “too dirty” for a woman, then you would expect at least those aspects of the job to be “man’s work”. Just don’t ever think that you can later on play the “sexist” card and get away with it, since you’re playing it here.

LOL…I see more men as professional gardeners than ever I see women…
However, when growing up, yard work was chores for the boys, while the girls got the household chores.
Except for the dinner dishes which we divvied up evenly.

I don’t work at the moment as I was made redundant. But I do all the housework and I will continue to do so when I get a job. To me, it is womans work and I am happy to do it.

There’s no man’s work or woman’s work. Whoever does it, does it.

@CyanoticWasp I’m not playing any card. I was simply asking a question. I knew people would get touchy on it.

It is not a personal question. More of a logistics question.

There are no men or women’s jobs except for giving birth.

@ChazMaz Thanks.

It isn’t a personal question. I’ll do any job I am given. I was just asking out of curiousity.

No, I don’t think women are more suited for yardwork/gardening – in my life the two people most adept at gardening/yardwork have been men.

I/we know. ;-)

You seem overly concerned with assigning roles. Since none of us here seem to be, define it for yourself.

The only woman’s job is giving birth.

Sigh.

“The only woman’s job is giving birth.”

And bitching. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

@tinyfaery I’m overly concerned at all. I was just talking about it with someone and thought to ask the question.

@Dibley I’m not in the least touchy about this Q; I can hardly care less. I’m only surprised that any modern woman would ask such an obviously sexist question and expect to be taken seriously.

I’m so glad I taught my daughter at a young age that gardening and yardwork is fun, good for you because you get exercise, and dirt is nothing to be afraid of.

The last person that I heard use the term “woman’s work” was my Grandma. She’s 77.

@CyanoticWasp I have traditional values, and I’m not ashamed of it. I am more than happy to always cook and clean. I’m pleased I am not one of those modern women that sit on their arse all day and expect their men to run around after them.

@Dibley The problem isn’t that you think you should do a certain kind of work and your boyfriend another, the problem is that labeling it “women’s work” or talking about “modern women that sit on their arse all day and expect their men to run around after them.” Implies, nay is, making a judgment on other women who choose to live differently than you do, and a sexist judgment at that. I don’t get to say what’s right for you on this subject, and I wouldn’t begin to, but I do have a problem with people looking down on women for not performing traditional women’s roles.

How pathetic. No longer worth my time. Hop in your phone booth and say hi to my great grandma when you get there.

@Snarp No I was saying that is what I believe and what I do. It is everyone else telling me I am wrong. I won’t be bullied and I stand my ground.

@tinyfaery She says hi.

@Dibley… um… actually, you asked Who do you think should be responsible? and now you’re bitching about the responses.

If you are comfortable doing the house work. And your other half is ok doing yard work. Then all is good. ;-)

It is all about balance. To each their own. ;-)

@Dibley I just don’t see how anyone was bullying you. You asked about man’s versus women’s work and you got some opinions on that, not on what you do. What you believe is fundamentally wrong if you believe that there is some distinction between men’s and women’s work that applies across the board and “should” be the way things are. That’s why you’re getting a lot of opinions that are at odds with your own. Disagreeing is not bullying though.

@Dibley I think you’re confusing bullying with disagreement.

I was going to ask you how the job hunting was going, but, yeah, nevermind…

@CyanoticWasp I’m not biching about the responses, I’m bitchy about people like you telling me how I should be. I was simply asking a question, not a personal question to me, but a general question.

@Snarp Why is it wrong? Because it isn’t your opinion?

@Dibley It is wrong because it limits the role women can play in society based on nothing but some nebulous notion of tradition. Women are fundamentally capable of doing anything men can do, and of enjoying it. No one should get to tell other people that because of how they were born they can’t do something that they are entirely capable of, or look down on them for doing it. Science would be worse off if Marie Curie had stuck to women’s work. Germany would have won WWII if thousands of American women had stuck to women’s work. Some families would go hungry if women stuck to women’s work. It’s fine for you to believe it and apply it to yourself, but it is clear from statements like those I quoted above that you believe it should be a societal proscription and that you judge those who violate it, and that is what is wrong. No one is judging you (well, at least I’m not) for expecting the man to do the yard work in your relationship, that’s between you and him.

Ultimately of course all matters of moral or ethical right and wrong are matters of opinion, but I believe there ought to be some logical basis for morals and ethics and I believe that the beginning of that is some fundamental commitment to equality.

I enjoy the yard work so I do most of it myself. We don’t have gender specific jobs in my house. My husband can clean a toilet like nobodies business, seriously it’s beautiful to behold.

@Snarp You give very good comments there. But I will say again. I don’t expect my man to do the gardening. We do it together. My question wasn’t a personal question. Seriously. I don’t expect him to do housework, because, to me, that is what I should do. Though he is very house proud and would do it, I simply would rather. I like to look after him and our house. When we go outside to work, we do everything together, apart from a few lifting things, but that is just because I am weak and can’t lift as much. This question was just a question.

Hmmm, being abit old fashioned my gut feeling is that men should do the lions share…. what with gardening being dirty, heavy work. Although anyone who enjoys it should get cracking. Personally I despise gardening with a passion & if I could get away with never doing any again I would. Problem is I like to have fresh herbs growing in pots, & I’m a fan of smelly stuff like Lavender.

It’s the lawn service’s job. :-)

@mattbrowne Giving birth is a job? I guess you must be joking because no educated person can actually believe that, and you seem like a reasonably intelligent person.

@HTDC We do call it labor. It’s a job as much as doing the yard work is, you don’t get paid for it, but it’s a hell of a lot of work.

This question doesn’t make sense to me. You could have asked “Are candy bars a women’s food?” and it would have made the same amount of sense to me.

@Snarp You’re going by a different definition of job. What I mean is it’s not a woman’s “job” to have babies. But by your definition, yes, it would be difficult and laborious.

@jealoustome I don’t know. There was a time when tasks like this were divided into male & female task & many old habits or ways, whatever you want to call them, do survive into the modern world…. & incidentally, candy bars are my food, not men or women’s, ALL MINE!!!

@HTDC I think my definition is more what @mattbrowne was trying to get at. You are right of course that it is not a woman’s job to have babies in any sense of her being obligated to do so.

@Snarp You’re probably right, it’s hard to tell sometimes.

@Dibley where, exactly, have I said anywhere in this thread (or any other) “how you should be?” If your comments make you out to be a silly girl and people point out that you are a silly girl and you don’t like to confront that, well, that’s something else.

You have every right to be a silly girl.

I love working in a garden. I pay a man to come and mow the yard.

Good thing you did not say, mow your grass.

Or trim your bush.

@Cloverfield Too true, there was a time when tasks were divided into male and female categories. But, I read this question in 2010. :)

Just throwing it out there – wasn’t agriculture developed by women about 10,000 years ago, when the men were busy chasing after wildebeest?

That said, my husband is the one that does the cutting-down of trees. I do the building of the fires, and the tending of the herbs. He does the repairing of the house.

We each do what we’re good at. That’s it.

I love gardening, but hate taking out the trash. lol

I would wish if I was in a relationship that my partner would be trashman…hahahaha

@ChazMaz I knew I could count on you!

No gender “should” do anything. It’s up to the couple to decide what they want to do. My dad barely does any gardening except tend the vegetable gardens that he plants. Aside from what the gardeners do and what I do, my mom does everything else. That’s just what they agreed upon.

As a kid, I loved gardening, but I used to be embarrassed of it because I dealt with “pretty flowers” and other “gay” things. Now I don’t really give a shit and when I get to living in a house with several other guys (as is our plan) I am going to garden the shit out of that yard. :)

I think it doesn’t really matter what you work with…as long as you like what you do, I mean you wouldn’t want to work in a job where you always wish it comes to the end…you gotta enjoy it.

Wow, this thread is a mess.
In my family, my dad mows and does most of the yard work. My mom kind of works with the flower bed. I handle the tomatoes and the mint.
It’s how it’s always been.

Being farmers, my family has never really split the chores by gender. If it needs to be done, someone better do it. Doesn’t matter who.
Especially hanging out at the ranch, I’ve realized that no job is “too heavy” or “too dirty”. If a girl wants to come out to ride, she better be able to muck out the stable, or she’s not going to ride. Girly girls really bother me, but that’s only because I grew up playing in mud every day.
There shouldn’t be gender specific roles, but there are. Most of it is how people are raised, so it’s not going to be easy to change.
I didn’t read all of the responses, so if I repeated something, sorry.

@rangerr You rock :)

If you are a woman, and doing yard work it is.

I do my yard work and I’m a female, my dad mows the lawn but I do everything else, he lacks patience with plants, and I put everything in a nice colorful arrangement. Men and women can do yard work, but I can’t push the lawn mower, its too heavy and I’m afraid I’ll break it.(it constantly breaks down)

nah

Nearly every professional yard worker I see is a man. I was rather surprised the other day when I saw a husband and wife team doing landscaping in my neighborhood.

@dibley

I have been Gardening for years and always try to get light lawnmowers and other tools so I can do the job without breaking my back, but if your limit is planting, raking and digging then I guess I need to hop a plane and come _mow your grass-!

@CyanoticWasp I’m a silly girl because I don’t have the same opinion as you? Wow, you have been brought up well and to respect others! not.

Of course it is an occupation for either sex and simply depends on the person that has a passion for such work. That being said, there is something very sexy about a woman that is simply clad and sweaty from doing yard work.