everywomanChangemakers Podcast: Shouldering the domestic burden: why who does the dishes has big implications for gender equality

Sally Howard

While women push forward to make gains in pay gaps, conquer professional arenas and increase parental choice, at home they still do the majority of the housework, as well as much of the emotional labour of keeping a household running. Why is this imbalance still a factor in so many domestic arrangements? In the UK, the average heterosexual British woman puts in 12 more days of household labour per year than her male companion, with ‘having it all’ now understood as ‘doing it all’. What needs to change and how can we address the impact of this ‘invisible labour’? We talk to author of The Home Stretch: Why the Gender Revolution Stalled at the Kitchen Sink, Sally Howard about how we got here, and importantly where we go now across feminism’s final frontier: the domestic labour gap.

Read a full transcript of this podcast here

 

Show notes

01:38 – What did you want to change by writing this book?

03:42 – Where does this inequality start?

05:22 – Are we as women in some part responsible for perpetuating this inequality?

06:43 – Do women just see the world differently when it comes to running the home?

08:02 – How do we go about changing the expectations with our partners?

11:47 – How does this inequality present itself in homosexual couples?

13:54 – There are obviously issues with paying for help, but at least it’s then visible.

16:16 – Would you say the pandemic has brought the issue of housework back to the fore?

17:15 – What actions from government would help?

18:28 – What can be done specifically for women who aren’t mothers?

19:40 – What conclusions did you come to when writing your book?

21:07 – What is the one change someone listening could make right now?

21:48 – Is there a way to talk about this with your partner?

24:25 – What is the change you would ultimately like to see as the big change and when?

 

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