Us women have moved forward such a long way from our suffragette sisters; let’s face it, we can vote, own land, divorce, and become Prime Minister!
But at home it still seems to be a different story. In my household (sorry A), if A says “we should really get on to that…” what that typically means is “YOU should really get on to that…” A’hem you might be married to a personal concierge but doesn’t mean you have unlimited access to free services!
Everyday we see articles fill our Facebook feeds from Women’s magazines and blogs that tell us we need to be a better Mum, a better wife and a better employee or business owner. But it’s rare that men are posed with the same dilemma.
“How do I manage it all – a great career, be a perfect dad, a loving husband, a 6-pack and handicap under 18?” We realise that this represents some men, but it’s not a question that is filling our social media feeds now is it?
In our quest for equality, why is all the pressure put on women – or are we putting it on ourselves – to be ‘perfect’ at everything? I think it is a bit of both.
And it would seem that it just doesn’t just happen in my house. AMP’s NATSEM Income and Wealth Report “Race against time, How Australians spend their time” says:
“At all ages, women spend more time each day doing housework and other domestic activities, while men spend more time on recreation and leisure.”
“Traditional gender roles are still evident when examining time use among men and women. Women are more likely to spend a greater amount of time each day on shopping, housework and child care; while men are more likely to be engaged in paid work for longer. That is, women spend on average over two hours extra a day than men on domestic activities, child care and purchasing goods and services.”
The same report talks about the pressures that build up on women to complete everything:
“The pressure of ‘balancing’ work, life, family, community, and everything else, is one that is felt by many Australians, with clear differences in the time pressures felt by women and men. Women feel more pressed for time, more of the time. This is particularly evident among women in families with children, and women in employment. And the reasons most often cited? For women, the feeling comes from family demands and the difficulties of balancing responsibilities at work and at home.”
This is further evidenced by the fact that most of our clients are women. I like to think that’s because they are smart enough to know how to maximise their 24 hours each day – nothing lazy about these ladies, they know how to get stuff done!
So I think we are some way off ‘task equality’, but in the meantime ladies give our number to your partner when they start handing over their “….we should get on to that” list.