Women on average spend double the time of men on caring and more than twice as much time on housework, a new survey has found.
The myth that men are doing their fair share of chores in the home has been blown away after research found that women spent an average of 19.7 hours per week on housework and men spent an average of 9.2 hours.
It has also emerged that Irish people do the third highest amount of unpaid work in the EU, a joint survey between the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) revealed.
Their report found that, on average, women spend double the time of men on caring and more than twice as much time on housework.
It revealed that there is also a substantial gender gap among men and women doing the same amount of paid work.
The gap between women and men’s hours of unpaid work is particularly wide in Ireland.
Between 2007 and 2011 the time spent by men on care and housework rose, but this returned to 2007 levels in 2016, suggesting this was a response to the economic shock of the recession rather than an underlying shift in behaviour.
The study showed 45% of women and 29% of men are providing care for others every day.
The report claims that is reflects the relatively low State involvement in support for caring and sees Ireland more in line with Southern and Eastern European Countries, rather than with Scandinavian and Western EU States.
The report looked at ten years worth of data on unpaid work for caring, housework and childcare to base its findings.
ESRI Research Professor Helen Russell, who compiled the report, said there’s a huge difference in the hours of caring women are doing, compared to men.
She added: “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.”
Emily Logan, chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission added: “As life expectancy increases and medical therapeutics advance, Ireland is experiencing a transformation.
“With relatively low State involvement in support for caring, adults and children are reliant on being cared for and supported by family.
“The State must remain focused on the reform of Article 41.2 not only as an exercise in removing an archaic reference, but also as a means of introducing a long overdue recognition of the public good realised within Ireland’s families and in caring roles.”
