Some of those objections disappear if you treat the father’s advice as a heuristic and not an absolute rule—something like “being able to cook and keep a house clean increases your chances of finding a desirable long-term partner”; especially objection 2 (I would expect a woman would also prefer a partner who can cook and keep a house clean, all else being equal) and 4 (even if some men are perfectly okay with a wife that can’t cook, I would expect that all else being equal being able to cook still makes one a more desirable partner).
“There are exceptions to that rule” is close to a fully general counterargument, because there are exception to pretty much any rule (outside the hard sciences), and I’m a bit annoyed when such an exceptions is used to triumphantly “refute” an argument (for example “once there was this guy who would have died if he had been wearing a seat belt!”).
I do agree that the statement is sneaking in some iffy connotations like “your value as a woman is who you marry” and “you don’t pick a husband, you get picked”, and even if knowing how to cook does make increase the chances one ends up in a happy long-term relationship, other traits probably have more bang for the buck.
If you interpret the father’s statement as “all else being equal, being a better cook is good” and you completely divorce it from a historical and cultural context, it is indeed not really problematic. But given that we are, in fact, talking culture here, I do not think that this is the interpretation most likely to increase your insight.
Some of those objections disappear if you treat the father’s advice as a heuristic and not an absolute rule—something like “being able to cook and keep a house clean increases your chances of finding a desirable long-term partner”; especially objection 2 (I would expect a woman would also prefer a partner who can cook and keep a house clean, all else being equal) and 4 (even if some men are perfectly okay with a wife that can’t cook, I would expect that all else being equal being able to cook still makes one a more desirable partner).
“There are exceptions to that rule” is close to a fully general counterargument, because there are exception to pretty much any rule (outside the hard sciences), and I’m a bit annoyed when such an exceptions is used to triumphantly “refute” an argument (for example “once there was this guy who would have died if he had been wearing a seat belt!”).
I do agree that the statement is sneaking in some iffy connotations like “your value as a woman is who you marry” and “you don’t pick a husband, you get picked”, and even if knowing how to cook does make increase the chances one ends up in a happy long-term relationship, other traits probably have more bang for the buck.
If you interpret the father’s statement as “all else being equal, being a better cook is good” and you completely divorce it from a historical and cultural context, it is indeed not really problematic. But given that we are, in fact, talking culture here, I do not think that this is the interpretation most likely to increase your insight.
(not disagreeing, but note that I’m not saying the statement isn’t problematic, merely saying that some objections are better than others)