Women beware, British man about the house.
By David Utting
Europe's legion of working women who long for
a caring 'new man' to share their duvet and the
household chores would be ill-advised to start
searching In the United Kingdom.
menfolk take responsibility for at least one
household task, putting them among the most
domesticated men in Europe.
The 'Family and Work' survey, one of a series
commissioned by the European
Percentage of men who
Researchers dispatched by
Commission's Employment and
will NOT take
Brussels to far corners of the
Social Affairs Directorate, was
responsibility for chores
European Union have found
based on almost 17,000
They say
Partners
that few husbands are quite so Country
interviews
in
disinclined to lift a finger round
the 12 member states. The
say
the house as the British. Even Belgium
results are due for publication
60.S
61.0
the stereotyped chauvinists of Denmark
in Britain this summer.
51.1
47.5
France
and
Italy Former W. Ger. 60.7
Looking at the domestic tasks
71.1
emerge as better disposed to Former E. Ger.
where European men - albeit
42.7
62.7
47.2
49.8
visit the supermarket or escort Greece
the minority - are prepared to
Spain
76.6
79.7
children to playschool.
take a lead, the survey
58.4
60.7
Challenged with a list of six France
identifies a North-South divide.
Ireland
84.0
31.9
common domestic tasks, three Italy
Men in Portugal and the
55.6
60.2
out of four fathers in Britain L'bourg
Mediterranean countries appear
58.9
64.9
claimed not to be in charge of N'lands
more concerned with the
45.7
46.2
any of them – a proportion Portugal
"public" duties of shopping or
69.3
71.9
74.2
70.6
larger than for the European UK
dressing
and
61.6
65.4
Community as a whole. They EU average
driving their children; further
left it to women to take the lead
north it is the "private" chores
in shopping, washing-up, cooking, cleaning,
such as dish-washing, cooking and cleaning
transporting children or helping them to dress.
which are treated with above-average
Ex-Communist
Eastern
Germany,
the
enthusiasm.
Netherlands and Greece emerge as the only
Those British husbands who do anything are at
places where a majority of fathers, interviewed
their best when clutching a dishcloth or tea
about the years 30 before their children went to
towel at the kitchen sink, although their
school, agreed they were responsible for at least
willingness to act as family chef is greater even
one of the items. In the case of Greek men it
than Frenchmen's.
emerged that their burst of domesticity was
The survey authors, Marianne Kempeneers of
overwhelmingly confined to visiting shops.
Montreal University and Eva Lelievre of the
Spanish husbands, meanwhile, topped the
London School of Economics, found that British
league for all-round household hopelessness,,
women were unusual in Europe because of the
with almost 8 out of 10 admitting to no
extensive availability of part-time jobs. Their
responsibilities at all - an assessment which was
working lives were marked by interruptions
more than confirmed by the views of Spanish
to care for children and they were more prone to
wives and partners who took part in the survey.
feel that promotion had been sacrificed as a
The strangest results were from Ireland, where
consequence.
84 per cent of men stoutly maintain that they
Former West German, Dutch and Irish women
take no responsibility whatsoever for
were more likely to mark motherhood with a
shopping, cleaning, cooking, washing-up, and
prolonged or permanent exit from the labour
dressing the children or driving them to school.
force. But women living in Denmark and
Yet the Irishmen's view of themselves as devilsouthern Europe found less difficulty
may-care, unliberated, macho sort of fellows
reconciling
work
with
their
family
appears to be sheer fantasy. According to their
responsibilities - possibly because childcare was
wives and partners, nearly 70 per cent of their
easier to obtain.
Your thoughts: Which country seems most similar to your own? In which country is it best to
be a woman? a man?a mother? a father?
Reading
1. You are going to read an article
comparing how much European men
from various European countries
help in the house. Before you read it,
say who in your household is or
would be willing to do the following?
Write M (man), w (woman), M/W (either)
or N (neither) against each of the following
items. Compare your answers.
shop
drive the children around
cook
clean
wash-up
iron
dress the children
tidy up
2. Read the article through quickly to
decide which country you most
admire and why.
3. Read the article again, this time in
detail, to decide whether the following
statements are accurate. Mark them
T(true), F (false) or ? (don't know).








75% of British men take no
responsibility for the six common
domestic tasks.
Greek, former East German and
Dutch men take on about te same
amount of responsibilities as one
another.
Spanish women think their men are
hopeless round the house.
Irish men spend little time helping
at home.
Each country presents very
distinctive trends.
Frenchmen cook more than British
men.
British women tend to sacrifice
their careers once they have
children.
Southern European women give up
work once they have children.
4. Look at the two lists of words below. List A contains words and phrases taken
from the text. In list B, there are synonyms for each of these words. Look at how
the words in A are used in the text and then match them to an appropriate
synonym in B, for example chores = boring domestic work. (N.B. List B contains
more words than you need.)
A
B
chores
limited
disinclined
harmonise
lift a finger
come first
emerge
be revealed
take the lead
general
overwhelmingly
join
confined
strongly
top the league
unwilling
all-round
fat
stoutly
help/work
maintain
take on responsibility
fellows
above all
prone
lazy
men
boring domestic work
willing
strongly affirm
inclined