When I was a little kid and painting happened at home, Mom did the cutting-in and Dad rolled. Most every couple that I encounter who plans a painting job does it the same way-she does detail and he rolls.
Me-I don’t mind either part of the job, so what say the Teeming Millions?
Well, I’m shorter than my husband, so I’d have to use a ladder when he can do the same job on the ground.
Also, the roller is heavy, and my arm strength is not as good as his. I think most women have weaker biceps than most men, based on observations at the gym.
My guess is the women typically care more and perfection is more important to them while the men could care less and just want to get the job done.
In my case I do the priming and rolling my BF does the cutting in and trim. I hate painting.
The last time we painted a room, I did most of the rolling and my husband did most of the trim. He has a good eye for detail, and he has a steadier hand.
Must … resist … evil … impulse …
[ I painted dorm rooms for a couple of summers, and whenever I was paired with a guy, we did it the way the OP mentions partially for the reasons Apricot states. In addition I was generally neater than the guys and most guys had more trouble getting at the low things like behind the heaters and along the baseboards - if I was going to cut in the tight spaces, I may as well do all the cutting. This seemed to be the case for other girls and guys paired together too. I thing the trade off for guys being stronger is that we were more patient with the necessity of being detail-oriented (one of the pair had to be in order to finish the room and go on to the next one).
It was always more fun to work with guys because there was no arguing about who did what 
When we recently repainted the bathroom, my wife did the cutting and rolling on everything below my shoulder height, and I did the cutting and rolling on everything above my shoulder height. This worked remarkably well, because I do not need a ladder to do even the ceiling, but being hunched over doing the lower areas would have caused me endless troubles.
There’s just about a foot difference in height between us.
Were things more evenly matched, I would be getting her to do the cutting in, because I do not really have the attention to detail required to do it really nicely. If we had not been painting the ceiling using the same paint as the walls, I would have also asked her to do the detail work.
Having said that, my wife genuinely enjoyed re-grouting the tiles, and really likes mowing the lawn. So she’s perhaps not the best yard stick to measure this by. 
Dave hates painting like you hate Wal-Mart. I do it all unless there is something I can not reach, in which case I ask him to hold the ladder.
I do the cutting in and the wife rolls.
Until I see that she isn’t paying attention and is leaving lap marks and blobs.
I do the rolling then.
That’s the way it was in my house. The last time my ex and I painted, I was doing the cutting and trim and he was racing around doing the rolling, complaining that I was taking too long. We got through the living room and part of the dining room before I confiscated his roller and sent him away. I finished the dining room and hallway myself, and then did the kitchen alone.
Here’s how it breaks down by gender in our house:
– She picks the color.
– I write the check to the guy who paints.
Do you put down a dropcloth when cutting in the cheque?
Not having a husband or boyfriend, I do all of my own painting unless I manage to get a friend to help me and that’s generally another female so it’s a moot point either way. When I was a kid, I know that my mother generally did all of the painting except for when she got tired, at which point she’d make my sister and me do it. My step-father wasn’t allowed anywhere near the paint at all, though he’s a carpenter and did the plaster on the walls. I assume my mother must have known something about his painting ability that I did not.
Wife cuts in, I roll. I have this shaky hand thing. I’d make a terrible neurosurgeon.
I do most of the painting solo. When my husband helps he does the rolling and I do the cutting in because I’m better at it than he is. Steadier hand.
I hate painting and am likely to leave marks just so that my SO will say, "let me finish this honey. "
Oh, I didn’t mean to get your wife in trouble.
(By the way, Carson, I love your user name. Hope you stick around so I can keep on seeing it.)
We pay the brother in law to do it. We both hate painting walls and the BIL is always in need of work, so it’s win/win for us.
We didn’t see division of painting jobs in my childhood home. Ma got to do all the painting. Dad did the carpentry, which was his profession anyways.
My husband does all the painting. That is, after all, what he does for a living. Well, painting, AND home remodeling, AND kitchens, AND bathrooms, AND etc. - he does it all from electric to plumbing - and he has never used a scrap of tape in his life - he can cut in a PERFECT line just with a brush. Yes, he IS that good.
Actually, I did try to paint a room once-my mom was coming to visit and I wanted our bathroom painted and he just wasn’t getting it done- he hadn’t even STARTED and I wanted it DONE- so I grabbed a can of semigloss white, a 1" brush, and attempted to “paint” the bathroom. Hoo boy - did he get that bathroom painted quick!! If I ever need him to do something RIGHT NOW, all I have to do is attempt to “do it myself”. Nothing says motivation like “Honey if you don’t get this done now, I’ll mess it up so bad it will be twice as bad and you’ll have to fix it.”
I usually do all the painting because my husband generally lacks the motivation and I actually enjoy it. It’s very relaxing. However, if my husband’s going to be involved, he’ll generally do the trim because he’s far more anal than I ever could be.