The weather makes it tough, but think about barbecues for a second. Specifically, a barbecue where the host says bring some booze to share. Which you do, of course, but how shared is it? In reality, we often drink what we bring – if it’s half decent we probably fancy it, and if it’s rubbish, well, it’s ours to sip and suffer through.
Who brings what to the table matters for who gets what, and a new study shows that this applies to more than barbecues. Research on economic deprivation generally focuses on differences between households, such as examining how tax changes affect rich or poor. But we’re missing something vital, according to this important work from the London School of Economics.
By tracking what each individual in the home consumes, it examined the differences within households. We might assume everything is shared equally, but that isn’t always true. In one in seven households, adults in the same family faced varying levels of deprivation.
And it’s not random – the main earner in the family (usually a man) is less likely to face deprivation: they have newer clothes, more meals out, more disposable income. This is a big deal; ending in-house inequality would cut overall deprivation by a whopping 25%. The lessons? It’s another argument for closing gender pay gaps and reminding some men that sharing and caring isn’t just for kids.
• Torsten Bell is chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. Read more at resolutionfoundation.org
