Half of B.C. women believe they do more work around the house than their partners, according to a new survey that's sure to spark some interesting conversations among couples.
Tackling the touchy topic of household chores, Insights West asked 509 British Columbians who live with a romantic partner how they divide up their duties.
What they found was that many still adhere to some stereotypical gender roles – and that a huge number of women perceive they're doing more of the housework than men.
"The key finding of the study is that in many homes across British Columbia in 2019, there are still throwbacks to 1959 despite the progress and changes in gender relations over the past 60 years," Insights West said in a news release.
A full 50 per cent of women said they do more around the house than their boyfriends or husbands, compared to just 19 per cent of men who feel they do more.
Despite that, only a small percentage of women (13 per cent) said the division of labour around the house is unfair. Forty-one per cent said it's "somewhat fair" and 46 per cent described it as "very fair."
Just five per cent of men called the division in their home unfair, while 95 per cent said it was either "somewhat" or "very" fair.
Pollsters also found major divisions between the types of chores performed by women and men. Women were more likely to report doing most or all of the grocery shopping (64 per cent of women vs. 26 per cent of men), cooking (62 per cent vs. 22 per cent), dishwashing (49 per cent vs. 27 per cent), house-cleaning (60 per cent vs. 12 per cent) and laundry (62 per cent vs. 14 per cent).
Men were more likely to report doing most or all of the garbage disposal (66 per cent of men vs. 23 per cent of women), basic home maintenance (84 per cent vs. 11 per cent) and yardwork (57 per cent vs. 13 per cent).
Perhaps predictably, Insights West found older people more likely to fall into traditional stereotypes – but said those gender norms still exist among Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z couples.
"Younger generations … become increasingly more equal in the splitting and sharing of responsibilities in running a household, but the stereotypical differences are still striking," the polling agency said.
Beyond chores, pollsters found major divisions when it came to childrearing responsibilities, with women more likely to drive children to and from school and daycare, and more likely to help with homework and putting kids to bed.
And while 71 per cent of B.C. men felt disciplining their children was a shared task, only half of women agreed. About a quarter of women said it either mostly or all fell on their shoulders.
The Insights West survey was conducted online from May 13-20 among 509 B.C. adults. Polls of that size have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
To read the full survey, visit the Insights West website.
