App Reminds Men To Do Their Fair Share Of Chores
Spain hopes domestic tasks app will ensure men *pull their weight
Free app designed to shed light on ‘mental load’ overwhelmingly carried by women *when it comes to chores
The Spanish government is hoping to encourage men to do more at home by developing a free app that will log how much time each household or family member spends on domestic chores.
Announcing the measure in Geneva earlier this week, Spain’s secretary of state for equality, Ángela Rodríguez, said the aim was to shed light on the invisible “mental load” overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to domestic tasks.
Rodríguez told the UN committee on the elimination of discrimination against women: “We’ll soon be unveiling an app that will allow people to log the household chores that different members of the family perform so we can see how many hours of work we each spend on housework and thus reorder the time we spend doing that housework.”
She said the new app, whose development budget is reported to be €211,750 (£184,000), was designed to ensure that every family member pulled their weight. “We think this is an exercise that could be used at home to share the chores out between sons, daughter, fathers, mothers, or between flatmates or life partners, because the division of those tasks is sometimes unequal,” she said.
Rodríguez said the app would also serve to highlight all the invisible jobs necessary for the smooth running of a house. Although tidying up the kitchen might take 20 minutes, she said, it depended on someone having remembered to buy washing-up liquid or having planned the shopping list.
She later responded to critics of the plan in a tweet, saying: “Ah, privileges. What those who are annoyed by the chore-sharing app are really annoyed about is the possibility of having to start doing their bit at home.”
The app is part of the equality ministry’s shared responsibilities plan, a series of public policies intended to improve equality between men and women.
The ministry said: “The challenge lies in designing comprehensive care systems from a gender, intersectional and human rights perspective that promote shared responsibility between men and women, the state, the market, families and the community.”
A survey last year by Spain’s National Statistics Institute revealed that 45.9% of women performed the majority of domestic chores, compared with just 14.7% of men.
Idioms/Expressions:
"Spain hopes domestic tasks app will ensure men pull their weight"
If you *pull your weight, you work as hard as everyone else who is involved in the same task or activity.
- Some colleagues have not been pulling their weight.
- I know he's had a lot on his plate recently but he has to start pulling his weight. It's not fair on the others.
"Free app designed to shed light on ‘mental load’ overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to chores"
We use *when it comes to to introduce a more specific topic or area that we want to talk about (cuando se trata de, a la hora de).
- When it comes to spectacular scenery, Scotland is hard to beat.
- Her English is pretty good but when it comes to doing the exam, she gets nervous.
- When it comes to computers, there is not much he can't do.
- He's a decent politician but when it comes to giving interviews, he doesn't come across well.
When it comes to sport, I usually support the underdog. Believe it or not, I was out celebrating when Spain won the Euros in 2008 and they deserved to win the World Cup two years later.
— English in Madrid (@madteacher72) June 16, 2018
What I can stand now is the commentary and media reports - unbalanced and arrogant .
Comments
Several days ago, I heard a man saying: “Before, a stupid was only in every village”. I suggest that they put a turnstile in the kitchen to check how much time every member of the family spends working. They should buy a weighing scales to measure how much food everyone eats, because everyone must eat always the same, although they aren´t hungry. They would have to check how long every member of the family sleeps because it´s necessary to sleep the same. The man should breastfeed like the woman, not discrimination. They should do the same tasks to avoid that someone does easier chores.
Can´t they understand that this app is rubbish? Don´t have they anything more important to do? Couldn´t they invent an app to unemployed people find work? Could they do an app to finish with poverty? They shouldn´t waste our time and spend our money (€211.750).
If 45.9% of women and 14.7% of men perform the majority of domestic chores, who does the rest? That is, 40%, as a survey of Spanish National Statistics Institute says. LOL
See you.
I agree with you that this app is nonsense; nobody needs to download it to find out that they are not doing their fair share of the household chores. It's a waste of money but there are greater misuses of public funds. Take the massacre of parrots that is happening in Madrid or the digging up of Puerta del Sol - both completely unnecessary and just an excuse to give our money to the cronies of City Hall. And as always, they get away with it.
A few days ago, I heard a man saying: “Before, there was only one idiot in every village”. I suggest that they put a turnstile in the kitchen to check how much time every member of the family spends working. They should buy a weighing scales to measure how much food everyone eats, because everyone must always eat the same, even though they aren't hungry. They would have to check how long every member of the family sleeps because it´s necessary to sleep the same. The man should breastfeed like the woman so that there is no discrimination. They should do the same tasks to avoid someone just doing the easier chores.
Can´t they understand that this app is rubbish? Don´t they have anything more important to do? Couldn't they invent an app for unemployed people to find work? Could they make an app to end poverty? They shouldn't waste our time and spend our money (€211.750).
If 45.9% of women and 14.7% of men perform the majority of domestic chores, who does the rest? That is, 40%, as a survey of Spanish National Statistics Institute says. LOL (Come on Joseph - you are an intelligent man. 40% of couples do an equal share of the housework - which is, I am sure, your case. )