My husband's culture might be too much for me
My (34F) husband (30M) and I got married 8 months ago after being together for 1.5 years. I am a modern English woman and he is from a very traditional foreign culture. Though most of his family is still very traditional (no sex before marriage, lots of kids, traditional gender roles), he has lived in a metropolitan area away from them for many years and is not obviously traditional himself in most ways. He moved to my country (though if it had been his choice he would have had me move there), and with most issues we have had where we are culturally mismatched, he has adapted or we compromise. For example, he has taken on half of the cleaning responsibilities in the house, something delegated strictly to women or girls in his culture and I cook dinner 5x a week.
The problem is, I am newly pregnant and my husband is adamant he will not change nappies. This is absolutely not ok with me and we have discussed it at length with neither of us budging. To him, men changing nappies is like asking him to use a tampon. He is fine with doing pretty much everything else to take care of the baby (feeding, bathing, etc)… but I will be working from home full time (bringing home a lot more money than he is) and caring for the baby full time. I know by the time I have the baby I will not have the patience I have now to deal with this. In my mind, changing nappies is no more than part of the bare minimum you do as a parent. He also will not go to couples therapy so that is not an option - though I am considering going myself.
We have found compromises on similar issues - after long talks, he has agreed to be in the room with me when I deliver, so long as he is behind my head. This was also a non negotiable for me, I told him if he is going to wait in the hall he shouldn't come to the hospital at all.
No doubt, other issues like this will arise after the baby is born and it really hits a button for both of us. I love my husband and he is otherwise incredibly supportive and sweet to me even when I know he has had a very hard time adjusting to his new life and misses his family/friends. I am not scared of raising a baby on my own, or of all the hard work that entails. I am scared because I know if he doesn't budge on this, I will grow resentful immediately and could actually see divorcing him over this, which seems ridiculous. I tell him I want an equal partner in parenting and that it is no more my responsibility than his (though I know as the mom I will have to do more). His response is that he will pick up the slack in other ways but given our schedules I don't see this as possible.
Please don't take the piss out of my husband's culture - I do this enough in my head.
Posted Nov 2, 2025, 12:06 AM UTC