Yes, but the wife has a “din k’dima” on theese mitzvos
That may be true… but if she’s not there (as she was not when I baked the challos or lit candles) then a man is just as obligated as a woman and MUST perform these mitzvos… just as a woman MUST recite kiddush if there is no man available.*
The Wolf
* That situation existed in my house for four years. From the time my parents separated until I became a bar mitzvah, my mother made kiddush and homitzi on Shabbos.
The Wolf