The working-from-home revolution was meant to usher in a brave new world of flexible hours, making it easier to be a working parent.
But two new studies this week have shown what many of us knew already: that, when both partners are working from home, the woman ends up doing considerably more around the house than the man.
‘We found that men and women don’t have the same experience working from home,’ explained Professor Jasmine Hu, author of the study. ‘There are still some gendered differences in how they manage their job and family responsibilities.’
They also found that, when women had to go into an office to work, their husbands tended to pick up the slack at home, doing more around the house. This proves that they can help; they just don’t.
The studies were carried out in China and Korea, but the results will be recognisable to women here in the UK.
Laura, 36, from Peterborough says that her relationship was more egalitarian when she and her husband both worked in offices. ‘We’d both do things like cook dinner or put a wash on, depending on who got home first each day,’ she says.
‘But now he appears oblivious to the overflowing washing basket, I think because he knows I’m around, so I’ll do it eventually. And his tolerance for messiness in the house is so much higher than mine. I can’t sit down to work without clearing the kids’ crap out of the kitchen, where we both work, and putting it away.’
These statistics aren’t specific to parents, but many mothers can’t help but feel having children creates even more of a gender divide. ‘It seems to be an unwritten rule that the school run is my job on WFH days,’ says Hannah, 41, from Kingston.
‘He either forgets, or pretends to forget, that the kids need to be collected from school. Or, at the last minute, he’ll say he’s on a deadline or about to go into a meeting, so can’t go.’
Anecdotally, this is even leading to women changing the days they are based in the office, so they’re not at home on the same days as their partner. ‘I just know that I’ll be washing up after my husband’s lunch, or popping out for milk because he’s finished it,’ says Laura.
‘My choice is either to nag him about it, which would start an argument, or just do it myself. I wouldn’t say this in front of him but, when he’s there, honestly, I’d rather be in the office.’
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