Roles

Yesterday was the weekly Williams' (formerly Moldy) Dinner and so 20 of us were sitting around their living room eating dinner and chatting as we do every week. It came up that one of the ladies needs to have the battery in her car changed and she remarked that she needed to get one of the guys to do it. I volunteered to do it; I mean, I've changed batteries multiple times. It's really quite easy actually. Takes five minutes max. One of the other ladies said, "No, we get the guys to do it. We don't do it. That is their job."
Maybe this is my 'northern' sentiment but I don't get that at all. If I need something done and I can't do it myself, I'll get whomever to do it regardless of gender, or I'll figure out how to do it myself. (It's a very different situation if someone offers assistance. I feel the need to make a distinction there.) I don't quite understand the 'gender roles' that seem coded into the societal makeup here. I don't mean to sound self-righteous, but it doesn't make sense to me to have guys do something that you can easily do yourself. My father is the one who instilled this notion in me; problem solving isn't gender specific. Now I've heard the argument that it makes guys feel useful, etc but why should I hide my abilities to boost the ego of another? I'm not man-hating either; lord knows most of the problems I make for myself have to do with a boy of some kind...
Can anyone explain this notion to me because it is something I sincerely would like to know more about. I see most of them as not only archaic but esoteric but I'm wondering the other more obtuse purposes that I don't see.