Men on lower incomes are more likely to help their partners with housework than higher-earners, although women are still by far doing the most around the home, no matter how many hours they work or how much they are paid.While the burden of keeping the home clean is starting to be shared more equally between couples, signs of a class divide are beginning to emerge, a researcher from the University of Warwick has found.

“There’s a stark difference in couples’ attitudes towards gender equality depending on how much they are earning,” explained Dr Clare Lyonette, from the Institute for Employment Research, who led the study.

“It seems men on lower incomes are happily picking up the dusters, filling the dishwasher and generally starting to do their bit. Times are changing and they acknowledge there’s now a need for more equality in the home.

“But there’s a different attitude when it comes to higher earners. We found that while men in these households do also recognise the need to help their partners, they remain reluctant to lift a finger and appear to simply throw money at the issue by hiring a cleaner instead.

“And although men in general are starting to make themselves more useful around the house, regardless of income, the age old theory remains the same – women, on the whole, are doing the most.”

Dr Lyonette’s findings in Sharing the load? Partners’ relative earnings and the division of domestic labour have just been published in the February 2015 edition of the British Sociological Association’s Work, employment and society journal. It is available to download for free here.

She interviewed a number of partnered men and women for the project, all of whom had at least one child under the age of 14.

“There’s certainly a fairer division of household labour between couples than in the past but inequality still exists and that’s perpetuated, in part, by the so-called ‘myth of male incompetence’,” added Dr Lyonette.

“This is a belief by some women – and our study shows it’s still rife – that men are unable to complete housework to an acceptable standard.

“Women know their contribution to the household should be fairly reflected in the sharing of housework and are often frustrated by their lack of success in changing the situation – but their frustrations are to some extent mollified by the idea that men are inept at domestic chores.”

One participant in the survey told the researcher: “I think they do it on purpose, men, don’t they? Using the cleaner, he’ll just clean around things, then all of a sudden you’ll move the sofa and you’re like, ‘What is that under there?’ … or he says, ‘Don’t clean upstairs now because no one goes up there bar us, you don’t need to hoover’ is his argument’.”

Dr Lyonette concluded: “Men from lower-income families certainly seem to be starting to do their bit around the home. But at the same time, until all men are willing to take on more domestic tasks, so allowing women to take on greater responsibility within the workplace, any hoped-for progress in gender equality is likely to stall.”

A new book on women's career development edited by Jenny Bimrose (IER University of Warwick), Mary McMahon (University of Queensland) and Mark Watson (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) is now available.

This multidisciplinary volume pulls together contributions from sociology, management, industrial, organisational and vocational psychology, geography and career guidance. International perspectives from nine countries also provide compelling narratives about the patterns of women’s career development continuing to reflect structural labour market disadvantage. Published on 18 January 2015, the book features chapters from members of IER staff (Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Anne Green, Professor Chris Warhurst) and IER Associate Fellows (Professor Nancy Arthur, Dr Simone Haasler, Dr Ying Kuang, Dr Mary McMahon, Professor Philip Taylor, Dr Pamela Suzanne, Massimo Tomassini, Professor Mark Watson).

Dr Mary Gatta from the School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University visited the University of Warwick this week sponsored by IER, Sociology and CREW. Dr Gata shared findings from her new book "All I Want is A Job" in a public lecture on 15 January. Her book reveals the experiences of unemployed women as they navigate the US public workforce system and struggle to survive unemployment during the great recession. The lecture brought together interviews with the unemployed and the "street­‐level bureaucrats" who service them, as well as her own experience of going undercover in the US system. Click here for more information on Mary's visit and other CREW events.

The ESRC is funding four groundbreaking research projects on what works in tackling poverty. In association with the Public Policy Institute for Wales, the aim of the research is to advance understanding of effective strategies for tackling poverty. Professor Anne Green is leading one of the projects on 'Harnessing growth sectors for poverty reduction: what works to reduce poverty through sustainable employment with opportunities for progression?'. Find out more about Anne's project, with Paul Sissons (University of Coventry), Neil Lee (LSE) and the Bevan Foundation, in her blog.

Findings from Stage 4 of the HECSU-funded Futuretrack study are highlighted in a special issue of Graduate Market Trends (GMT), published by HECSU (February 2013). An IER research team, led by Professor Kate Purcell, followed the progression of the 2005/2006 cohort of applicants to higher education from application to graduation. Data from the Futuretrack study has raised important questions about the types of employment obtained by graduates, finances, career opportunities and further study.

http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/current_projects_graduate_market_trends.htm

Further details about the research can be found on the IER website at: www.warwick.ac.uk/futuretrack , where PDFs of the project’s published Reports and Working Papers can be accessed and downloaded, as can PDFs of the online questionnaires used for each stage of the longitudinal research.

Professor Purcell notes: "This is the most ambitious and comprehensive research ever undertaken to explore the relationship between higher education and access to opportunity. The data we have collected is extraordinarily rich, the published reports produced so far only show the tip of the iceberg . There is much more to come..!”