First thought about having a “house husband” – ABSOLUTELY NOT. I absolutely WILL NOT be out supporting a family while there is an able-bodied man at the house. No. That is the rule, before we even THINK about dealing with exceptions.
The reasons for the rule are simple: a man not providing and protecting and watching me do it is not going to have my respect because he essentially would have regressed to being my son. A man who is not respected is not a happy man … or a safe one to have around. You cannot coddle a man into goodness, and a good man is NOT going to have his wife out exposed to the pandemic, the elements, and the stresses of working ALONE without doing his share if he can help it. No.
Now, here comes the first category of the exceptions: “If he can help it.” If he is injured and recovering: yes. He can't help that. If he is disabled to a sufficient extent: yes. He can't help that either. If he is a veteran just coming out of service, and adjusting to civilian life: yes. The U.S. did 20 years of war and may get sucked into World War III; we have a lot of veterans who need time to adjust to life not at war.
Then we have the second category of the exceptions: a lot of us are working at home anyway, and it may be that his job stays remote longer than mine. If that is the case: yes. If it happens that he can pull in more money at home to take care of the family than he can at an outside job: yes.
This leads to the third and final category of the exceptions: there are men who are in the investor and business class who do not need to work outside the home any more if at all. If that is the case: yes, provided I have the option of coming home too.
There is also the fact that life is fluid, and now more so than ever. Most older couples I know have gone through phases of time in which duties had to be shared or flipped … exceptions to the rules happen quite often. However, they were households in which the men sensed their responsibility to provide primary support to their families. Sometimes they were hurt, or sick, or got laid off, and held the house down as a form of keeping up that support until they could return to work. Life happens. Roles are not law.
However, we have a situation in which younger men online are literally seeking women to live off of and talking about how to do it … and when I say younger, that still extends into the 40s and 50s. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Not over here. No.