I shudder to remember the number of times I huffed “you have NO idea what it’s like” to my other half while pregnant. But I’m sure it was a lot.
My husband is good at most things, but I’m sorry to say he a particularly bad patient, so I couldn’t even imagine how moany he would be if he was the one who was pregnant. Me x 300.
In Japan, however, a group of men decided to find out for themselves. They decided to don pregnancy vests to raise awareness for a better work-life balance. According to Japantrends.com, three regional governors sported the suits, which imitate the feeling of being seven months pregnant. Their task was to just go about daily tasks that pregnant ladies may do every day; shopping, cooking, getting into a car. One man is filmed trying, AND failing to put his socks on. Familiar much?
“This really drags on your shoulders and back” exclaimed one Governor who has three of his own children.
The campaign also encouraged regular men to try out the vests, and you will be delighted to know that ninety-six per cent of them agreed after the test, that men SHOULD do more to help out with housework and minding the children.
In Japan, politics is very male-dominated. The experiment was designed to encourage Japan’s ‘workaholic’ men to balance their office commitments with their home lives -and to help out more at home. Can I just also point out that they didn’t have to experience the near-constant puke attacks, the heartburn, the veins, the restless legs, the headaches, the Braxton-hicks, the crazy hormones and all the rest of those beautiful things we face as pregnant women.
A survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2014 showed that Japanese men were among the least helpful partners in the world, averaging just one hour of jobs around the house a day. The telegraph reports that their wives, including working wives and mothers, put in around five hours a day. After wearing the vests one of the governors said;
“I really did not understand, now that I understand what my wife has put up with for so many months, I am filled with gratitude”.
That’s it! I’m off to order one for my husband.
Do you think your partner understood what it was like for you to be pregnant? Also, you NEED to watch this video of Dad’s Experiencing The Pain of Labour
