“I’m already too tired today, I’ll do it tomorrow” and “I have something more important to do now” – these are the two top excuses given by Austrians when it comes to housework. According to an IMAS study on International Women’s Day, more than half of the country’s people living in couples are familiar with “procrastination”. The majority of unloved tasks are still carried out by women, although the distribution corresponds to gender stereotypes.
Women wash, iron and cook, men take care of the car and repairs – this is what the survey by the IMAS Institute found. For this purpose, 1,011 Austrians, 557 of whom were married or in a relationship and aged 16 and over, were interviewed personally at the end of 2023.
Old roles in housework for couples are almost frozen
Despite social change, old roles in housework among couples seem to be almost frozen: over 70 percent of women said that they wash and iron the laundry, around 60 percent said they cook, clean the windows and wash the dishes, more than that Half of the women use the vacuum cleaner themselves. This corresponds to the answers from men, of whom only ten percent claimed to do this. In some households, these tasks are done together, by another person, or with outside help.
A good third to half of couples do shopping, disposing of rubbish, cleaning the balcony or terrace, watering flowers and gardening together. Men predominantly take care of gender-typical tasks: 62 percent wash the car, 42 percent mow the lawn and 46 percent do household repairs.
Here too, women consistently stated that these tasks are done by their partners, with 66 percent of women believing their husbands repair things, while only 46 percent of men said this.
