A recent study from the CSO shows that women in opposite sex couples do much of the housework, but what about same-sex couples? Cassie Stokes, presenter and producer for Her.ie and Lovin Dublin discussed this with Jen Zamparelli on RTÉ 2FM.
According to the 'Life at Home' CSO pulse survey, sharing household chores is the main cause of disagreements in house shares for 46 per cent of respondents.
Women living with a male partner were more likely to say they are mainly responsible for household chores while those who live with a same-sex partner were more likely to report a balanced division of responsibilities.
"Same sex couples seem to divide household jobs in a fairer way than straight people," Cassie told Jen.
The study broke housework down into a variety of sections including household chores, home and garden maintenance, groceries and meal preperation, managing health appointments, organising social activities, financial decisions, setting up and renewing household utilities.
In straight couples, it seems that men and women have vastly different perceptions of who carries out household tasks across a variety of areas.
"Two thirds of women and nine per cent of men say that they are mostly responsible for household chores with men more likely to say they looked after home and garden maintenance," says Cassie.
Likewise, men and women with children had different perceptions around how the responsibility of providing structure and discipline to children is shared.
Men are very likely to say this work is balanced at 80 per cent compared with just 62 per cent of women. Only 12 per cent of men said their partner has most responsibility for the children compared with 37 per cent of women who said they have the main responsibility.
When it comes to financial decisions in the household, investments are more likely to be balanced when the person lives with a partner of the opposite sex at 62 per cent, compared with 54 per cent for those in a same sex relationship.
As for spending, it seems that men in opposite sex couples are more likely to ask permission before splashing the cash:
"92 per cent of those living with a same sex partner feel free to spend money on themselves without asking permission from their partner compared to 88 per cent of those in opposite sex relationships - so not too far off," says Cassie.
"In opposite sex couples, women are more likely to report being free to spend money on themselves without asking permission from their partner with 93 per cent compared to 83 per cent of men. There's a 10 per cent drop there so I guess men feel like they have to ask if they if they can spend money."
To find out more about the results, and what Jen Z thought of them, listen back to RTÉ 2FM here.
