[BlackAdderess]

It’s been my experience that men deem “woman’s work” as being beneath them. If you want to be valued, lift heavy objects and fix things.

That may also be why in previous generations it was desirable to accomplish “woman’s work” while they weren’t watching, sort of giving the effect that everything just got done without anyone being devalued by being seen to actually do the work.

[Secret Agent Man]

Women know that their traditional work and chores arent that hard compared to mens work and chores. Its also been shown that when women browbeat and see men doing womens chores, they lose respect for the men, and find it contemptible.

[GingisK]

I think you saw the symptoms and misinterpreted the reasons. It may be more of a division of labor: I lift the heavy things, change the oil, repair all of the appliances. So you do the easy things.

[Jeff Chandler]

It’s been my experience that men deem “woman’s work” as being beneath them.

Your perception is either off base or limited to your particular social group.

My own observation is that up to and including the WWII generation, family labor was shared but divided by sex roles. Husbands did indeed perform the strenuous tasks, leaving the domestic chores to their wives. That arrangement has greatly diminished, beginning with the Boomers, and among those couples who are better off financially, pretty much all domestic labor has been outsourced.

[Svartalfiar]

That may also be why in previous generations it was desirable to accomplish “woman’s work” while they weren’t watching, sort of giving the effect that everything just got done without anyone being devalued by being seen to actually do the work.

Previous generations? Pretty sure it's still happening :p
But part of it is just resistance to being told what to do. If the wife tells you to do something (vacuum the living room), you instinctively don't want to do it, or at least do it on your own time/schedule. We're like a dog: the idiot walks around the wrong side of the tree, so when you try to fix him, instead of walking back around the tree, he just fights your pull on the leash even more.