According to UN Women data, women perform at least 2.5 times more domestic and caregiving work than men. This situation has even worsened drastically after the pandemic, increasing the inequality in the workload, particularly in caring for children, the sick, the elderly, people with disabilities, etc.
When comparing the time that professionally active men and women spend on housework, we encounter the same situation, and when there are children involved, the gender gap widens even more. A study for the La Caixa Social Observatory, conducted by Lídia Farré (University of Barcelona) and Libertad González (Pompeu Fabra University), estimates that women spend 780 more hours per year on these tasks than men.
These data are just the tip of the iceberg of a significant inequality that represents an extra workload with serious consequences for women’s health. It has been proven that women suffer from more chronic illnesses than men and have a poorer perception of their health. The most common symptoms include fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, stress, insomnia, and headaches, and many admit to needing medication to cope with the situation. Even when comparing the health of men and women who are caregivers, for example, to children, differences can be seen. Studies have shown that men tend to engage in more leisure and social activities, while women are more focused on hygiene and basic daily tasks like feeding, education, and health-tasks that require more time and cause greater fatigue and stress.
Among the initiatives proposed by institutions and experts worldwide to reverse this situation, one key proposal is to promote changes in social norms to encourage a more equal distribution of caregiving responsibilities. UN Women suggests international initiatives such as the #HeForSheAtHome campaign, which aims to highlight the unfair burden women bear and encourage men to take on their share of the tasks. Additionally, the Because I am a Man campaign in the Arab States region has been launched to address these issues.
In short, the inequality in caregiving and support tasks severly harms women’s health and represents a significant obstacle to achieving Women’s Health Rights.
[Image: Unsplash]
Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), director of the Laboratory of Antibiotics and Molecular Bacteriology.