YouGov asks families who is responsible for taking care of the Christmas tasks – in almost every case woman say they do the work
With only three shopping days left before Christmas, there’s a lot to get done. But who does it all, and do men do their fair share?
New research by YouGov for the Sunday Times finds that women are bearing much of the work this Christmas – much more than men.
Those who are married or single but living with a partner are asked, firstly, who is mainly responsible for a series of Christmas tasks. In every case except one (doing the washing up), more women say they are responsible for the work than do men.
69% of women say they send out the Christmas cards, while only 12% of men say the same. Buying the presents is split female to male by 61%-8%; doing the food shopping by 54%-13%; and cooking the Christmas dinner by 51%-17%.
If everyone was telling the truth, the percentage of people saying their partner does the work would be the same as the percentage of partners saying they do the work themselves. This is not the case, however: much of the time men are less likely to say their partner does the work than women are to say that they do it themselves, and more likely to say they spread it out evenly between them.
Couples are also asked who drinks the most (39% of men say they do, compared to only 14% of women) and who falls asleep first on the day itself (38% of men, 13% of women).
Men only seem more altruistic when it comes to presents: 34% of men say their partner gets the most expensive presents compared to only 9% of women, and 28% of men say their partner gets the most presents compared to 5% of women.
Some have complained that it is the media that perpetuates the idea that women should do all the work. Last Christmas 600 people complained that a festive TV campaign was sexist. The advert showed a harassed mother swamped with festive preparations, and ended with the line “Behind every great Christmas there’s mum".
