Is the Househusband Becoming the Housewife?

I recently saw the Swiffer television commercial (above) that featured a little gender role reversal. While the husband mopped the floor, his wife relaxed nearby reading a magazine.

There was no suggestion that he was merely “helping” her with the housework. He seemed to be the person responsible for cleaning the floor, while she was perfectly content to let him get on with it.

We have certainly come a long way from the old television commercials in which the immaculately dressed housewife happily polished, scrubbed and mopped while her husband sat in his favorite chair. In those days, a man might occasionally make a mess, but it was always the woman’s job to clean it up.

Now the husband is holding the mop.

Naturally, this raises an important question: Where will advertising take gender role reversal next?

If the husband is going to perform the traditional housewife’s duties, perhaps advertisers will eventually decide that he should look the part. Instead of mopping in jeans and a T-shirt, he could wear a practical housedress, a freshly tied apron, hosiery and a comfortable pair of low heels. His hair could be held neatly in place with a scarf, and a little lipstick would help him look presentable while doing his chores.

Meanwhile, his wife could sit nearby in trousers, reading her magazine and occasionally reminding him that he missed a spot.

At first, such an advertisement would probably be presented as a joke. Viewers would laugh at the sight of a husband dressed like a stereotypical 1950s housewife. But advertising has a way of making the unusual seem ordinary. Show the same idea often enough, and before long nobody laughs or even gives it a second thought.

The apron becomes practical. The housedress becomes comfortable. The heels become surprisingly flattering. Soon the feminized househusband is no longer the punch line—he is the target customer.

Swiffer could even introduce a complete campaign featuring cheerful husbands exchanging housekeeping tips, comparing dresses and discussing which lipstick stays on best while doing the floors. Their wives would come home from work, admire the spotless house and compliment their husbands on how pretty they look.

Will one commercial showing a husband mopping the floor lead directly to husbands dressed as housewives?

Probably not.

But it is a start—and advertisers have already put the mop in his hands.

Now they only have to give him the housedress and heels.

Wearing Boston Proper

Femulating in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1984