Women still work double shifts, as men offer no help: Study

Irrespective of the increasing number of working women, most of the burden of the household chores still fall on them as men offer no help, a new study has suggested.

Irrespective of the increasing number of working women, most of the burden of the household chores still fall on them as men offer no help, a new study has suggested.

The proportion of the workforce represented by women rose from 20.7 percent to 41.1 percent between 1978 and 2002.

However, this trend has not resulted in a similar increase in the proportion of men who participate in household tasks.

Some 55 percent of women who are part of a dual earning couple still perform all household tasks. Furthermore, 33 percent of men do not do anything at home.

"Younger women still carry out a larger amount of unpaid work than men, although in less proportion than older women. The same occurs with education. The lower the level of education, the more likely women are to have more household chores", said co-author Salome Goni.

The researchers selected 2,877 Spanish male and female workers from the total sample of the Survey of Quality of Life at Work in Spain between 2001 and 2004 who stated they were members of a dual earning couple.

The experts conducted a variable analysis of the division of unpaid work following three models: the role-strain approach, the traditional gender division approach and the resource-bargaining approach.

According to the study, all three theoretical models help to explain the unequal division of household labour and can therefore be regarded as complementary.

According to the study, only 12 percent of the women surveyed share their household responsibilities equally with their partner.

The European average, albeit low, stands at 25 percent.

Without distinguishing by gender, 18.91 percent of the people surveyed state that they ''do nothing'' at home, compared to 57 percent who say they ''share the housework'' and 23 percent who ''do everything.''

If we divide the sample by gender, these figures change drastically.

"If we take the sample as a whole, one might think the situation is balanced, but when we distinguish between men and women, the difference is clearly visible", added the researcher.

The detailed paper was published in the journal Sex Roles.

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