Women Winning Bread As Well As Baking It

Despite a big rise in the number of women now in the paid workforce a new study has revealed women still do the bulk of housework.

According to the figures released by the Economic and Social Research Institute, women work 39 minutes a day, or one month a year, more than men.

It also discovered that while women now do 37% of paid work, they still do 72% of unpaid work, including housework and caring for younger and older family members.

However, the report notes that much of this division accumulates during the weekends.

According to the report, men continue to spend longer in paid employment/study,

while women spend twice as much time on caring and household work. However,

while there is a sharp drop in men’s hours of employment at the weekend, women’s hours of unpaid work (caring and housework) continue unabated, which results in a gender gap in the time devoted to leisure at the weekends.

The report calls for a review of statutory leave entitlements so that men can do more unpaid housework, including looking after children.

Over 500 households were questioned in the survey, which gave couples a diary to complete every day, asking how long they had spent on tasks such as studying, childcare, cooking, cleaning, house repairs and paid employment.

The Equality Authority, which commissioned the research, said its findings paint a depressing picture.

In comparison with the rest of Europe, it says Ireland is still very much at the traditional end of the spectrum.

(DW)