Individuals often remain unaware of the whereabouts of essential household items, fail to recognize healthcare providers for their children, and neglect basic tasks such as meal planning or laundry. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as weaponized incompetence, describes a tendency to feign helplessness in order to shift household responsibilities to others—a common occurrence in domestic settings.
Wharton economist Corinne Low has dedicated significant time to studying data that confirms a reality many women have long perceived: this issue is not merely a reflection of individual personality traits or specific men's shortcomings, but rather an established structural issue. As women's participation in the workforce increases and many women out-earn their male partners, this imbalance in domestic labor is becoming more pronounced.
Low, an Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Wharton School, has been a faculty member since 2014 and is the author of Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women’s Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. Her research illustrates how the division of household labor disproportionately falls to women, even as their earnings surpass those of their male counterparts. According to Low, society has moved beyond the era of the traditional stay-at-home wife awaiting her breadwinner spouse, yet we are entering a cultural landscape where women are out-earning, outworking, and outperforming men, while still undertaking a majority of the household labor.
“Men’s time doing housework has remained consistent since the 1970s,” she stated in an interview with Fortune. This is true whether the woman is the higher earner or the man is. Low believes this stagnation is a key contributor to the perception that progress has plateaued for women, as the disparity in domestic contributions persists.
Traditional economic theory suggested that as women's incomes increased, a natural balancing of domestic responsibilities would occur. The expectation was that heightened financial contributions would provide women with greater leverage to negotiate a more equitable distribution of household tasks. However, as Low noted, this assumption has not been realized, despite shifting external labor dynamics.
Working in the office and working at home
Even in situations where a wife earns significantly more than her husband, she frequently engages in nearly double the amount of cooking and cleaning compared to her lower-earning partner. One example from Low's research involved a couple where a woman works as a nurse earning four times more per hour than her husband, an Uber driver; yet, she continues to bear the heavier domestic burden while he works longer hours. “The programming is there,” Low explained, indicating how entrenched gender norms lead men to associate household contributions solely with paid work hours, even when such reasoning contradicts the reality. “It would actually be more beneficial if he took on more responsibility at home, allowing her to take extra shifts as a nurse, ultimately benefiting the whole household financially.”
Additionally, there has been a marked shift in American parenting practices over recent decades. The time dedicated to parenting has significantly increased since the 1990s, yet this responsibility has not been equitably distributed. Low highlighted that modern working mothers often spend more time with their children than stay-at-home mothers did in previous generations. While fathers have slightly increased their involvement in parenting, this does not equate to the level of effort contributed by mothers. Low pointed out that when men reference dropping kids at daycare or alternating bedtime responsibilities as proof of their involvement, the data illustrates a different narrative. The overall increase in parenting time across the board has actually widened the gap, as men's contributions to daily domestic tasks remain unchanged.
As artificial intelligence transforms labor markets and replaces many higher-paying jobs traditionally held by men in technology and related fields, Low warns that the implications of these shifts are even more significant now. The previously accepted logic that men, as primary earners, should contribute less to domestic duties is being challenged. Low contends that a cultural foundation to adapt to these changes is currently lacking. Recent economic data supports the enduring trend of men becoming stay-at-home partners—a phenomenon that appears to be increasingly permanent. Laura Ullrich, Director of Economic Research at Indeed Hiring Lab, recently reported for the third time that women now outnumber men in the workforce, a trend that, unlike previous occurrences during economic downturns, is expected to continue.
Low expresses concern about this development because male employees are choosing to pursue roles predominantly occupied by other men that may not align with the current workforce's needs while perpetuating the same domestic dynamics at home. “It is essential for men to adapt to new roles and responsibilities at home,” she asserted. “When a woman becomes the primary breadwinner of the household, it creates a dissonance when the male partner claims he is ineffective in domestic tasks, such as cooking or knowing where household items are located.”
When Fortune referenced her comments as relating to the concept of weaponized incompetence, Low concurred. Perhaps she embodies the spirit of Having It All: she discussed these topics while vacationing at Disney World, caring for her 10-month-old child as her eight-year-old enjoyed rides with her spouse.
Low emphasizes that the repercussions of weaponized incompetence are reflected in declining marriage and birth rates. As women's financial independence rises, their willingness to endure an imbalanced domestic arrangement diminishes. “With my own paycheck, when I encounter men who have been laid off or impacted by job displacement, it raises the question: why should I accept a partner who does not contribute equally at home?” Low remarked.
Her primary concern is that the current economic landscape is altering roles and expectations, particularly for men.
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