There has been a 30% rise in women out-earning their partners since 2014, a new study has revealed. Despite this though, female breadwinners are still four times more likely to do the majority of household chores.
The research, commissioned by life insurance broker Life Search as part of their 2019 Health, Wealth & Happiness study, found that nearly half of female breadwinners do most of the housework. This means that the average female lead-earner does the equivalent of one working day per week in household chores, on top of her paid working hours.
‘Women have juggled competing responsibilities in the home and at work for years, but with more and more of us taking on lead breadwinner responsibilities too, the importance of this financial role needs to be recognised and protected accordingly,’ said Emma Walker, a spokesperson for LifeSearch.
The study was conducted as part of their push for more women to be insured across their financial assets. Their research found that female breadwinners are half as likely as their male counterparts to take out income protection insurance, as well as being less inclined to get life insurance or critical illness cover – ‘leaving their families financially vulnerable if their circumstances change’ the statement reads.
Of course, the most notable part of this investigation is just how many women are still performing the double-shift – that is, full-time paid work as well as unpaid household labour. More women than ever are bringing more financial value to the home than their partners and yet, they are still expected to do housework as if they don’t have a full-time, high-paying and likely very stressful job.
‘I started out-earning my partner when I was in my mid-40s,’ Karen, 55, from Liverpool, tells Grazia. ‘I was coming home from work at 8 or 9pm, absolutely knackered, and he’d have been at home since 4pm but not have moved from the couch… I’d always done more housework but as my job got more stressful I did start to resent him not picking up the slack.’
Does being financially dominant make you immune to housework? ‘Of course not,’ says Valerie, 49, who out-earns her partner. ‘I still expect to do equal housework but there’s definitely been a shift in how much I do now compared to when I was earning less. I used to justify doing most of it because I wasn’t as stressed as he was, but now thinking about it we were still working the same hours.
‘If you’ve both got full-time jobs you should do equal housework no matter what you earn,’ she continues, ‘but obviously most do it all regardless, and that’s just not right.’
In the UK, 73% of families with dependent children have both parents in employment. For families with young-children aged three and four, 56.5% have fathers working full-time while their partner is in part-time work, as well as most likely undertaking unpaid childcare. However, the majority of families with children aged 16-18 have both parents in full-time work.
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