How Ireland’s Nollaig na mBan evolved from a day off housework to a celebration of women’s achievements: Butsaya/Shutterstock Growing up in west Kerry, Christmas was (and still is) not officially over until after Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas) on January 6 – candles are lit in windows and decorations are not taken down until the …
Men often don’t see mess like women do – changing that could make housework more equal: Even men who want to do their fair share of chores often fail to pull their weight. Koldunov/Shutterstock Picture a professional couple, Jack and Jill, who are committed to a relationship in which household responsibilities are shared evenly. Now …
Why married mothers end up doing more housework when they start out-earning their husbands: Shutterstock/ronstik The idea of a male “breadwinner” in married heterosexual couples might seem old fashioned. But as a social construct, the view that a husband’s primary role is to earn money has proved to be exceptionally durable. Research shows that in …
Lockdown saw couples share housework and childcare more evenly – but these changes didn’t last: Halfpoint/Shutterstock It may feel like a common occurrence today, but if you cast your mind back to the first COVID lockdown, having whole families working and studying from home was a very unfamiliar situation. And it was one that had …
Britons spend eight years of their lives on housework: Cleaning, ironing, food shop shopping and even walking the dog means the average adult spends just under three hours a day on domestic tasks. This amounts to 20 hours and 55 minutes a week – the equivalent of 45 days a year or seven years and …