Irish women are doing twice as much housework as Irish men, according to a recent survey.
Despite gender roles having altered over the decades, with women entering, and excelling in, the workforce, it seems that attitudes in the home are still to catch up.
The figures come from a joint survey between the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
Men do an average of 9.2 hours of house hold chores per week, which is of course far more than they would have done in previous eras.
However, equality between the genders is a long way off as far as housework is concerned as women do an average of 19.7 hours per week of chores.
Women also spend far more time caring than men. According to the survey, 45% of women and 29% of men provide care for others every day.
The gap between men and women for unpaid work was particularly high in Ireland, compared with other European countries.
Men did increase the amount of time they spent on housework and care between the years 2007-2011. However, by 2016 it had returned to the same level it had been in 2007.
ESRI Research Professor Helen Russell said: “Caring and other household work is vital for the well-being of individuals and society, but because this work is unpaid it is largely invisible and rarely measured.
“Quantifying the extent of care and unpaid work, as we have done in this study, is a first step in valuing these activities.”
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
