This article is part of our Digital Feature on Household.
When it comes to housework, it appears the male of the species are labouring under false illusions. In a slap in the face for gender equality, 76% of women feel they do the lion’s share of chores in the home, according to an exclusive poll for The Grocer. When men were asked the same question, only 25% admitted it is their partner who does most of the jobs.
The rest – 75% – claim they either do the housework or cleaning the home is a joint effort, suggesting someone is telling porky pies. “Despite all the talk of equality, it seems that women feel that they do most of the housework in the home,” says Lucia Juliano, head of consumer & retail research at Harris Interactive UK, which polled 2,000 consumers on behalf of The Grocer.
But there’s no reason for women to be smug: it seems we’re all closet Wayne and Waynetta Slobs in the bedroom department. While almost half of us say we change our bedding weekly, a third only change it on a fortnightly basis and 13% change theirs monthly or less often. The worst culprits are the under-25s and single households.
“Most of us are very honest, saying the best way to encourage us to clean more often would be if someone else did the cleaning for us,” says Juliano. “Twenty per cent said they would clean more often if they entertained more often, suggesting that a clean house is purely for display to impress the guests and we are happy to wallow in our dirty homes as long as no one else sees them.”
Seventy two per cent of those polled claim to clean their kitchen surfaces every day, with women and the over-45s sporting the cleanest counters. And when it comes to the heart of the home, social status counts: the most affluent ABC1s and single-person households are the most lax about kitchen hygiene.
But while our work surfaces might be shiny the same can’t be said about kitchen floors: only 17% clean their kitchen floors every day, with the majority only getting the mop out weekly.
Meanwhile, bathrooms are getting the same treatment as kitchen floors, with the majority of people cleaning their bathrooms weekly. Yet for the households with children it’s a different story. Those with kids clean their kitchen floors more often than those without, and if there are children in the home the bathroom is more likely to get the once over on a daily basis.
But rather than being lax when it comes to cleaning, could it simply be that we’re too time poor? “Twenty five per cent of people said they would clean more if they were at home more, indicating that our busy lifestyles mean we just don’t have the time to do the cleaning,” says Juliano.
“Just over a fifth, 21%, complain that if cleaning products made the job easier they would clean more often, throwing down the challenge to all those big domestic cleaning brands to make our lives easier by saving us time and giving us great results.”
| Who does most of the housework in your home? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| I do | 59% | 41% | 76% | 38% | 62% | 62% | 64% | 61% |
| It’s a joint effort between the family | 25% | 32% | 19% | 52% | 30% | 25% | 17% | 17% |
| My partner | 14% | 25% | 3% | 10% | 7% | 10% | 17% | 19% |
| We have a cleaner | 2% | 2% | 2% | 0 | 0 | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| My kids | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 1% | 0 | 0 |
| How often do you/others clean your kitchen surfaces? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Daily | 72% | 64% | 79% | 66% | 65% | 68% | 77% | 77% |
| About three times a week | 15% | 19% | 12% | 18% | 20% | 15% | 12% | 13% |
| About twice a week | 5% | 7% | 3% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 3% | 6% |
| Weekly | 5% | 6% | 4% | 8% | 6% | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| Fortnightly | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 0 |
| Monthly | 1% | 2% | - | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0 | 0 |
| Less than monthly | 1% | 1% | 0 | - | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| How often do you/others clean your kitchen floor? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Daily | 17% | 18% | 16% | 16% | 23% | 17% | 16% | 16% |
| About three times a week | 21% | 21% | 21% | 27% | 22% | 17% | 19% | 21% |
| About twice a week | 18% | 19% | 17% | 18% | 12% | 19% | 18% | 19% |
| Weekly | 28% | 25% | 31% | 24% | 25% | 28% | 30% | 30% |
| Fortnightly | 7% | 7% | 8% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 8% |
| Monthly | 5% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 3% |
| Less than monthly | 3% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3% |
| How often do you/others clean your bathroom? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Daily | 20% | 20% | 21% | 18% | 20% | 16% | 20% | 24% |
| About three times a week | 18% | 16% | 20% | 18% | 15% | 17% | 18% | 20% |
| About twice a week | 18% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 20% |
| Weekly | 33% | 32% | 34% | 31% | 35% | 38% | 34% | 30% |
| Fortnightly | 5% | 7% | 4% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 3% |
| Monthly | 3% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| Less than monthly | 2% | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 1% |
| How often do you/others clean your toilet(s)? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Daily | 34% | 30% | 38% | 19% | 26% | 27% | 38% | 46% |
| About three times a week | 20% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 17% | 21% | 19% | 21% |
| About twice a week | 15% | 15% | 15% | 18% | 20% | 15% | 13% | 13% |
| Weekly | 24% | 26% | 21% | 31% | 26% | 29% | 24% | 16% |
| Fortnightly | 3% | 3% | 3% | 6% | 5% | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| Monthly | 2% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% |
| Less than monthly | 1% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 0 |
| How often do you/others change your bedsheets? | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Daily | 2% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 7% | 1% | 2% | - |
| About three times a week | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% | 6% | 4% | 2% | 1% |
| About twice a week | 5% | 7% | 3% | 8% | 9% | 4% | 6% | 2% |
| Weekly | 45% | 44% | 45% | 35% | 38% | 41% | 48% | 52% |
| Fortnightly | 32% | 25% | 38% | 29% | 25% | 34% | 30% | 35% |
| Monthly | 10% | 12% | 8% | 17% | 11% | 13% | 8% | 7% |
| Less than monthly | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 2% | 4% | 2% |
| What, if anything, would make you carry out these cleaning tasks more often? Please select all that apply. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| If I could get someone else to do them! | 34% | 29% | 38% | 37% | 32% | 36% | 36% | 31% |
| If I was at home more | 25% | 25% | 26% | 40% | 30% | 38% | 26% | 12% |
| If cleaning products made the job easier | 21% | 21% | 21% | 38% | 24% | 23% | 21% | 14% |
| If I entertained at home more | 20% | 19% | 21% | 27% | 27% | 20% | 20% | 14% |
| If cleaning products were cheaper | 15% | 15% | 15% | 32% | 21% | 14% | 11% | 8% |
| If cleaning products were more environmentally friendly | 9% | 8% | 9% | 11% | 13% | 10% | 7% | 6% |
| If I shared a house with my partner | 7% | 9% | 5% | 14% | 10% | 6% | 6% | 4% |
| If cleaning products contained less allergens | 6% | 6% | 6% | 8% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 5% |
| Nothing would make me clean more often | 27% | 30% | 24% | 7% | 14% | 17% | 30% | 43% |
In partnership with:
Harris Interactive UK polled 2,103 members of the public on behalf of The Grocer. Harris Interactive UK is a full service, consultative custom market research agency working internationally out of offices in the UK and Europe. With in-house expertise covering all areas of research design, implementation, analysis and reporting, it has particular strengths in loyalty and brand. For more information, please visit the Harris Interactive UK website.
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