Twinkle Khanna: Responsibilities at home must be shared according to skill sets

MUMBAI: Why should women be expected to do all household chores? asks Twinkle Khanna.

In an interaction with IANS, the actress-turned-author emphasised that household work should be shared between family members and noted how her husband, actor Akshay Kumar, has taken charge of kitchen duties during the lockdown.

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"Men and women should share responsibilities. I feel responsibilities should not be shared according to gender. They should be shared according to skill sets. If you put someone like me in kitchen, I would be miserable. I find cooking stressful, and it is a genuine problem," said Twinkle.

"But my husband and son cook. They enjoy cooking. They put on some music and come up with fabulous dishes. I am the one who is awful at cooking. I like to organise things, I order groceries, wash utensils. Cooking is not my cup of tea. Every household should divide up chores according to people's skill sets. Gender has nothing to do with it," she pointed out.

Twinkle says thanks to Akshay and son Aarav's cooking skills, she has found a silver lining amid the Covid-19 gloom.

"It's a blessing. My son cooks, but I did not know he could cook so many things. Only during lockdown, I have discovered that he knows how to make rajmah and pizza from scratch. He can also make Tiramisu dessert. We have not ordered in food even for a day because we have our own two chefs in the kitchen! So I think that has been the silver lining," Twinkle quipped.

She is quite happy to see men stepping up and helping their partners in running the household during the lockdown. But will they continue to do so once all this is over?

Twinkle, who endorses the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign, said: "This is something that has to extend beyond the time of crisis. And I think it will, because I see in my family that my partner understands how many things were just left to me -- in terms of, let's say, my daughter Nitara's virtual classes or the house. Many people have realised that they need to step up and I think that is going to sustain."

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