"Women's Lib" in the UK

Definitely not a common belief here!

My fiancé actually does the majority of the cooking and all of the ironing. He would never expect me to quit working or to live someplace where I wasn't happy. Now, whether there's any point in my working once we have children, given the price of nurseries here is another matter altogether!  

Oh, and my fiance's father brings his wife breakfast in bed 5 days a week!

I think this is more of a Mother-In-Law issue than a gender roles in the UK issue.

MIL spoils the men in her life so she can get all of their love and attention and never has to share it with anyone else.

I imagine this behaviour has been going on as long as their have been wives and Mothers-in-Law.

Your MIL is definitely not speaking for all Brits!

But, as someone who prefers not to work, I have to say that I find the UK refreshing. In the US, I always felt that I'd be looked down on for not having a career ... or perhaps it was just the circles I moved in. Either way, I worked and all my friends did as well. But in the UK, most of my friends are non-working and are bright, active, intelligent, interested, involved women who contribute just as much as they would if they had convential career-y jobs.

I think this is more of a Mother-In-Law issue than a gender roles in the UK issue.

MIL spoils the men in her life so she can get all of their love and attention and never has to share it with anyone else.

I imagine this behaviour has been going on as long as their have been wives and Mothers-in-Law.

I agree.

Agree with the others. My FIL doesn't lift a finger to cook or do dishes (though he does a lot of gardening so they have fresh veg) and my MIL does everything around the house. But, they certainly don't frown upon parents having to work - MIL did take a few part-time jobs during the miners strike of the 80's when my FIL couldn't work. Also, all three of my SIL's are mothers and they all work. DH says he would love for me to stay home and just do what I please all day if I wanted to (or stay home with a baby if we choose to have one), but the cost of living here is so high that it would be unrealistic for us financially for me to stay home (unless on maternity leave for less than a year.) We really need both wages to survive. We struggled quite a bit when I first moved here and was looking for work. It was a stressful time for both of us for both of us because of the lack of funds, which would only become tighter if we had another child to support.

My English DH does the dishes, the laundry, and his own ironing (I don't wear anything that needs to be ironed because I hate doing it, I just use our dryer to get the creases out) and I do all the cooking just because I like to do it. He does cook occasionally, if I don't feel like it. When my stepson is here, we share bath time duty and things like that, and we trade off days for getting up early so that each of us gets to sleep in one day on the weekend. It's very equal. 

My English husband surprises my American family in how helpful he is... with EVERYTHING. This pregnancy, he never expects me to do anything unless I offer or want to do something, clean something (even that he doesn't like, because he doesn't want me "overworking" myself!). He is always helpful. He cooks, cleans, walks the dog (even when I say I will... he'd rather do it so I don't slip somewhere, hah), etcetera. This is just in his nature. I think your MIL just had a different sort of upbringing and life/lifestyle with her family that affects her perception of what is the right way of doing things.

I'm going to be on maternity leave as long as feasibly possible (which is probably just the 9 months because I don't think we could afford the additional three months where I wasn't having some sort of money coming in) but I'll be going back to work. While I think it would be wonderful to be a SAHM (to focus on my son and not hand him off to some nursery), it's not not possible... and I refuse to go on the dole!

I am grateful for everything that the UK does differently than the US, as it allows me to relax much more... especially when it comes to this pregnancy and after the baby is born. In the end, I am very glad that women in the UK are given so many choices and ways to do things when it comes to having a family. Jobs will work with you if you want with your schedule, you have a proper maternity leave that you would not have in the States, your antenatal care and the birth when on the NHS does not cost you a fortune...

And! After it all... if you want to go back to work full time, you can! And it's fully supported.

I'm rambling. It's fine in the UK... honest.