Women get criticism for it I'm not sure where this idea comes from that they don't. Obviously staying home and taking care of the household affairs/child rearing is essentially equivalent to a full time job and shouldn't be shamed. But how many childless women can get by completely as a layabout stay at home wife?

I think most men are fairly happy if their wife manages the domestic and carnal responsibilities of the relationship without necessarily producing an income. I think most men are happier if she produces an income on top of that. But if a woman wants to just sit around the house and do whatever and not provide anything into a relationship, I think most men, and most women won't put up with that. The more opportunistic women in that friend group will see it as an opportunity to perhaps steal the man from her if they think they have more to offer, the man will be frustrated and will probably eventually stop supporting her if he gets nothing from the relationship and will go with someone else.

The only real huge difference I think you get demographically is that women tend to be more agreeable in general and will put up with situations like this longer than men will if the rolls are reversed. I think this is frankly simply because women assume more risk than men on the "dating market" and so are slower to dissolve existing relationships vs trying to make them work. Statistically speaking at least.