Domestic cleaning burden blamed for gender pa

Domestic cleaning burden blamed for gender pa - 15/05/2008

The burden of household chores and domestic cleaning on women has caused the gender pay gap, according to the latest results from the British Household Panel Study.

Researchers have claimed that if women did less carpet cleaning and sofa cleaning, they would earn more money.

The longitudinal study indicates that women do more than double the amount of housework than men per week, who manage only four to five hours worth of window cleaning and other chores.

Study authors note: "It is likely that the relative inflexibility of housework for women in couples reduces their availability in the labour market."

But women, who were found to do more than 12 hours of housework per week, could stand to free up some time by passing on domestic cleaning duties to a cleaning agency.

Meanwhile figures from the Fawcett Society suggest that the gender pay gap is linked to a lack of job opportunities for women and could be fuelling child poverty.