Dto England to Spain, passing, naturally, through Italy. Something has changed in the allocation of family tasks, from cleaning the house to taking care of children – and God forbid – but, compared to many other social changes, with incredible slowness. Gender equality is still very far away.
House cleaning and gender equality, where are we at?
Just take a look at the data coming from British Social Attitudes Survey, annual survey on the topic. A clear majority of people interviewed (more than three-quarters) believe that household tasks, from cleaning the house to taking care of children, should be shared. But – look – it’s generally women who carry them out.
The Me Toca app to redistribute the load between men and women
That’s itand women dedicate much more time to household chores compared to men is so well established that in Spain, the Ministry of Equal Opportunities has launched an app for smartphones (it’s called “Me Toca”) to equally distribute, and measure, the time that each family member dedicates to housework. And try to reduce the burden of mental burden on the female population.
English data and women’s “second shift”.
Regarding this phenomenon, there is talk of a “second shift” for women. Who take on most of the household and childcare tasks at the end of their normal working day.
If in practice it goes terribly wrong, in theory, however, ideas about gender roles have changed considerably. In the mid-1980s, 48% of respondents to the British Social Attitudes Survey agreed with the statement “a man’s job is to earn money and a woman’s job is to take care of the home.” In this year’s survey only 9% agreed with this statement.
Gender equality, an abyss between ideas and behaviors
In 1989, about half of those surveyed believed that both men and women should contribute to the family income. It is now at 70%, with support among men and women increasing at a similar rate.
According to the survey, the continued unequal division of labor between men and women is reinforced by both workplace norms and public policies. “A gulf remains between attitudes and practices, with women continuing to take on more domestic work than men,” the authors say.
In 1983, when the BSA survey began, the female employment rate for people ages 16 to 64 was 54 percent. By 2023, this percentage had risen to 72%. And mothers’ participation in the labor market has never been higher. In contrast, in 1983 78% of men of working age were in paid employment, while today it is 79%.
European and Italian data: women clean, men fix faults
The data is British, but does not differ from that of many other countries, including Italy. According to research by Taskrabbit published last March 8, women in our country are responsible for cleaning the house, while men are responsible for repairing electrical faults and maintenance. 84% of the sample believes that men and women can carry out the same jobs, but many, when deciding who to entrust with clothes to iron or a pipe to fix, have precise preferences. 77% say they would prefer a woman to clean the house and 79% would let her tidy up the clothes in the wardrobe.
Woman with small child in her hands doing housekeeping while man sitting on couch and relaxing.
The mental load of women: let’s not be surprised
In all EU states there is a greater percentage of women than men who take care of childcare, house cleaning and cooking. In the EU (Istat data from 2016), 93% of women aged 25 to 49 (with minor children) care for their children daily, compared to 69% of men.
Among Member States, the largest gender gaps are observed in Greece (95% of women and 53% of men) and Malta (93% and 56%), while the smallest are observed in Sweden (96% of women and 90% of men) and in Slovenia (88% and 82%). Regarding domestic activities and cooking, the differences are even wider. In 2016 in the EU, 78% of women cook and/or carry out household tasks on a daily basis, compared to 32% of men.
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