A woman in Italy is facing up to six years of jail time, not for murder nor for domestic abuse, or even adultery. She might go to jail because does not do enough housework.
The 10-year-old-woman from Sonnio in the Lazio region is being taken to court by her husband himself.
His wife’s management of the household chores is of a low standard, the husband claims, and that it has led to the “mistreatment of the family.”
On top of this, his wife rarely cooked, and he has thus been “forced to live in conditions with poor hygiene.” This has been happening for over two years.
The woman will be tried in October, and if found guilty of her crimes she could be imprisoned between two to six years.
In March of 2014, campaigners in Italy pushed for women who worked in the home and their male counterparts to be paid a salary in an effort to improve equality and tackle domestic abuse.
Unfortunately it was a proposal that was not entirely supported. (An economics professor at the University of Turin believes it to be a “disincentive to look for a job.”)
Shared responsibility
Unless the husband is suffering from physical disability which prevents him from getting up on his two feet and do some chores himself, he appears to be just as guilty of rendering their household in a poor condition as his wife.
After all, in those two years that this has been happening, there were a number of ways he could have helped improve the situation.
What do you make of this, moms? You already have enough on your place as it is, and six years of jail time is surely something you do not want on it.
Do you think that as women the responsibility of managing the household falls solely on you—because society still holds this idea of women as domestic entities whose roles should be contained within the four walls of the house—or do do you think that as husband and wife, the responsibility should be split between the two parties?
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Also read: VIRAL: Single mom teaches her son to do chores because housework “isn’t just for women”