Are We Going Back To The 1970s?

In the last year, women have taken on more responsibilities at home, leaving the share of the chores unequal once again

- Kara O'neill, Eimear O'hagan

Over the past year, with many of us being stuck at home, there’s been homeschooling to juggle, more cleaning to do and more laundry to wash. And it seems many of those tasks fell solely to the women of the household. A worrying 56% of women fear that when it comes to a woman’s place in work, the home and in society, we’re in danger of going back to the 1970s, so says a Mumsnet study. A huge 73% of women said they took on the laundry, while 70% said they were in charge of homeschooling – and this could be while trying to balance a full- or part-time job, with 28% of women saying their caring responsibilities had affected their professional reputation in the past year.

Around the home, the only task that most women said fell mainly to their male partners was emptying the bins; everything else, including life admin, cleaning, cooking and caring for kids, had been placed on their own shoulders. It’s a lifestyle that resembles that of a 1970s housewife. But now, in 2021, we ask, should the workload be truly equal? Two women tell us their very different opinions.

‘I DIDN’T SEE WHY IT SHOULD ALL FALL TO ME’

Kim Palmer, 42, lives in Kent with her husband, Simon, and their sons, aged six and three.

It was December 2020 when I reached my breaking point. My husband, Simon, and I were arguing constantly, I felt exhausted and overwhelmed, and it was always about how the housework was shared out.