The way I see it is that everyone, male or female, married or unmarried, has an obligation to be "useful" in so far as they're able, merely to justify using resources by being alive.

There's a difference between having a husband and having a live-in lodger, or hired worker, and "love and be loved" is the best way I can put it. If the love happens to express itself in doing the washing-up, fine. If it comes out as unexpected bunches of daffs, fine. A kiss as I hand him his dinner and a beer? Fine. The love itself implies that he's doing what he can to be useful, and he isn't an employee to be measured by performance.