Women, Society, Work & careers, Feminism, Inequality, World news, United Nations, Domestic workers, Global development Business | The Guardian
The Wages for Housework campaign asked a provocative question. More than 50 years later, it is still relevantIn 1987, just under half the population – 48% – still believed that a man’s main job was to earn money, and a woman’s to look after the home, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. By 2022 that had plummeted to 9%. Yet while the proportion of women in full-time jobs has soared, the burden of domestic labour still falls unfairly on their shoulders in heterosexual households – whereas same-sex couples tend to divide it more equally. Men are doing more than they did, but women still do most – even when they are the main breadwinners, US research has shown. Beliefs have been transformed, but behaviour has proved more stubborn.Globally, the UN has reported that women do at least two-and-a-half times more household and care work than men, equivalent to 10%-39% of the gross domestic product of member states. In the US, analysis suggests that women – who make up half of the paid workforce – account for almost 80% of the unpaid domestic work: worth around $3.6tn a year. Yet this labour is not included in GDP and in many countries is ignored or insufficiently recognised when it comes to divorce. Continue reading…
The Wages for Housework campaign asked a provocative question. More than 50 years later, it is still relevant
In 1987, just under half the population – 48% – still believed that a man’s main job was to earn money, and a woman’s to look after the home, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. By 2022 that had plummeted to 9%. Yet while the proportion of women in full-time jobs has soared, the burden of domestic labour still falls unfairly on their shoulders in heterosexual households – whereas same-sex couples tend to divide it more equally. Men are doing more than they did, but women still do most – even when they are the main breadwinners, US research has shown. Beliefs have been transformed, but behaviour has proved more stubborn.
Globally, the UN has reported that women do at least two-and-a-half times more household and care work than men, equivalent to 10%-39% of the gross domestic product of member states. In the US, analysis suggests that women – who make up half of the paid workforce – account for almost 80% of the unpaid domestic work: worth around $3.6tn a year. Yet this labour is not included in GDP and in many countries is ignored or insufficiently recognised when it comes to divorce.
