Each of us has a unique experience of life at home, with different relationships, supports and challenges. The distribution of power and decision-making between partners in a couple has an influence on the ability of individuals in a couple to access opportunities outside the home. This is why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has produced ‘Life at Home - Couples’, which is the third publication to be produced from the first online CSO Pulse Survey as part of the CSO ‘Take Part’ campaign.  Pulse surveys, which take the ‘pulse’ of the country about an issue at a point in time, are usually short and frequent. They allow the public an opportunity to get involved in CSO surveys so that your story can become part of the story of Ireland. This report focuses on couples and includes insights into the division of household tasks; decision making; frequency of disagreements; and satisfaction with the division of tasks and decisions.

This online survey was carried out between Monday 24 May and Monday 07 June 2021 and was open to anyone aged 18 and over who is living in private accommodation in the Republic of Ireland. The online electronic questionnaire was available on the CSO.ie website and on all CSO social media platforms.  There were 10,454 responses.

This report is a Frontier publication. The results in this report reflect only the responses of those who completed the Pulse survey questionnaire.  While results are benchmarked to Irish population totals, the findings cannot be generalised to the entire Irish population, as the people who answered the questionnaire were not chosen at random from the population.  Even with this caveat however, we hope that this report provides a valuable insight into life at home in Ireland.  See the Background Notes for further details on the survey methodology.

Couples – Respondents living with a spouse or partner

The ‘Life at Home’ Pulse Survey asked people if they live with a spouse or a partner.  For this report, those respondents who answered ‘Yes’ are classified as being in a couple. 

Respondents living with a partner or spouse were asked

Between you and your spouse/partner, who is mostly responsible for organising and taking care of:

• household chores (e.g. cleaning, tidying, laundry etc.)?
• grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation?
• home and garden maintenance (e.g. painting, clearing gutters, cutting grass etc.)?
• setting up/renewing utilities (e.g. electricity, refuse collection) and home insurance policies?
• financial decisions related to household’s savings, investments or borrowings?
• socialising (e.g. meeting up with extended family or friends)?
• household health related issues (e.g. medical/dental appointments and check-ups)?

Response options to these questions were (1) Mostly me (2) Balanced and (3) Mostly my spouse/partner.

In this report, respondents are classified into three groups; those who said responsibilities are balanced for less than three of the seven household tasks and chores (0-2 Balanced); those who said responsibilities are balanced for three or four of the seven tasks (3-4 Balanced); those who said responsibilities are balanced for five or more of the seven tasks (5-7 Balanced).

Parents with a child (aged 18 or younger) in their home were asked three additional questions about who is mostly responsible for

• providing structure and discipline to the children in the household
• providing emotional support to the children in the household
• providing educational support to children in the household (e.g. helping with homework, early educational development)

Respondents living with a spouse or partner were asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is 'not satisfied at all' and 10 is 'completely satisfied', how satisfied they are with how household tasks and chores are divided between the partners. These respondents were also asked to rate their satisfaction level with how the most important decisions are made in their households. Respondents with a score between zero and five are classified in this report as having a Low level of satisfaction. Those with a score between six and eight have a Medium level of satisfaction and those with a score of nine or ten are classified as having a High level of satisfaction.

A summary of the main findings from the analysis are presented below. Comparisons between same sex and opposite sex couples are made in chapter 2; the differences in perceptions of women and men in opposite sex couples are explored in chapter 3; the responses of women and men in same sex couples are analysed in chapter 4.

• The most Balanced responsibility is Organising and taking care of household financial decisions on saving, investment and borrowings (61%). Organising socialising (e.g. meeting up with extended family or friends) and Household health related issues (e.g. medical/dental appointments and check-ups) are the next most Balanced household tasks at 59% and 54% respectively. Setting-up or renewing household utilities is the least Balanced responsibility (24%) followed by Organising and taking care of home and garden maintenance (31%) and Grocery shopping and meal preparation (36%).  See Figure 1.1.
• Younger respondents in both same sex and opposite sex relationships were more likely than older respondents to report Balanced division of household tasks. For example, one in three (35%) respondents living with a same sex partner aged 18 to 34 years reported Balanced responsibilities for five or more of the household tasks investigated, compared with 16% of respondents aged 55 or older in a same sex relationship.
• Respondents are more likely to disagree with their partner about household chores than they are to disagree about household finances, with four in ten respondents reporting they Sometimes or Often disagree about household chores compared with approximately two in ten who Sometimes or Often disagree about household finances.

 Same Sex Couples

• Just under three in ten (29%) respondents in same sex couples said responsibilities are Balanced for five or more of the seven household tasks compared with under two in ten (18%) of those in opposite sex couples.
• Respondents living with a same sex partner reported a more Balanced division of responsibility for organising and taking care of; household chores, home and garden maintenance, groceries and meal preparation, household health related issues and socialising compared with those in an opposite sex relationship
• Respondents most likely to report High satisfaction levels with how the most important household decisions are made are younger respondents (aged 18-34 years) in same sex couples and older respondents (aged 55 or older) in opposite sex couples (57% and 56% respectively).
• Men living with a same sex partner were more likely than women who live with a same sex partner to be satisfied with how household tasks and chores are divided, with 39% of respondent men reporting a High satisfaction level compared with 35% of women.

Opposite Sex Couples

• Female respondents in opposite sex couples were more likely to say they are mostly responsible for organising and taking care of household chores, grocery shopping and meal preparation, taking care of household health related issues and organising social activities, while men were more likely to report being mostly responsible for household financial decisions on saving, investment and borrowings, home and garden maintenance and setting-up or renewing household utilities.
• Two in three (65%) female respondents said they are mostly responsible for household chores, compared with 9% of men, and 64% said they are mostly responsible for grocery shopping and meal preparation compared with 23% of men.
• Men were more likely to say they mostly take care of home and garden maintenance (65% compared with 15% of women). Over half (54%) of women said their partner is mostly responsible for home and garden maintenance.
• Women were more likely to report taking the lead in organising social activities with 42% reporting they are mostly responsible for this compared with 8% of men.
• Almost five in ten (47%) men in an opposite sex relationship reported a High satisfaction level with how household tasks are divided compared with three in ten (31%) women who live with a male partner.
• Approximately three in five (60% female and 58% male) respondents report that their opinion prevails About equally when there is a disagreement with their spouse/partner.
• Almost one in four (23%) female respondents and 7% of male respondents said, ‘Mostly mine’ when asked whose opinion usually prevails when there is a disagreement.
• Men were more likely to report that their partner’s opinion mostly prevails when there is a disagreement, with 35% of men reporting this, compared with 17% of women.

 Impact of children in the household of opposite sex couples

• Six in ten (61%) female respondents without children living with them said they are mostly responsible for organising and taking care of household chores and six in ten (60%) said they are mostly responsible for grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation. Of female respondents with children seven in ten (70%) said they are mostly responsible for household chores and 70% said that they are mostly responsible for groceries and meals.
• Over four in ten (43%) women without children said they are mostly responsible for organising and taking care of household health related issues (e.g. medical/dental appointments and check-ups), this increases to 78% of women with children.
• Six in ten male respondents who don’t have a child living with them said they are mostly responsible for organising and taking care of home and garden maintenance. This increases to 71% of male respondents with a child in the home.
• Both male and female respondents without children were more likely to report a High satisfaction level with how household tasks are divided (55% of men and 37% of women) when compared with respondents who have children (37% men and 24% women).
• The majority of both women and men said the responsibility for providing structure and discipline to children is Balanced, with 62% of women and 80% of men reporting this. Over one third (37%) of women reported being mostly responsible for this task, compared with 8% of men. This illustrates the differences in perception between men and women around who is mostly responsible for household and family tasks and duties.

Opposite sex couples- both employed

• In couples where both partners are employed full-time, women were more likely than men to report being mostly responsible for taking care of household chores (42% compared with 6% of men) and for grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation (43% compared with 20% of men).
• Of respondents in a full-time working couple who have children, 41% of women reported being mostly responsible for providing educational support to their children (e.g. helping with homework, early educational development), compared with 10% of men, and 33% said they are mostly responsible for providing emotional support to the children compared with 3% of men.
• Of respondent males in a couple where both are working full-time, 63% said they are mostly responsible for home and garden maintenance compared with 15% of women.
• Almost half (48%) men in couples where both partners are employed full-time reported a High satisfaction level with how household tasks are divided compared with 29% of women.
• One in ten (10%) female respondents in a couple where both partners are employed full-time said they Often have disagreements with their spouse/partner about household chores. The comparable rate for male respondents in a couple where both partners are in full-time employment is one in twenty (5%).

Opposite sex couples-one person employed

• More than eight in ten (82%) women who are not employed and whose partner is employed reported that they are mostly responsible for organising and taking care of household chores, compared with 27% of men who are not employed and whose partner is employed.
• Almost half (49%) of women in a couple where the female is employed, and the male is not working reported being mostly responsible for household chores. This compares to 7% of male respondents in a couple where only the male is employed.
• Of male respondents not employed and living with a partner in employment, 45% said they are mostly responsible for groceries and meal preparation. This compares to 78% of women who are not employed and living with a male partner in employment.
• Four in ten (40%) women who are not employed and whose partner is employed said they are mostly responsible for providing structure and discipline to the children. This compares to 11% of men who are not employed and whose partner is employed.
• Of male respondents who are not employed and whose partner is employed, 21% reported being mostly responsible for the educational support of the children, compared with 73% of females who are not employed and whose partner is employed.
• Of female respondents who are not employed and whose partner is employed 43% reported a High satisfaction level with how household tasks are divided compared with 23% of male respondents who are not employed and whose partner is employed.

Retired couples

• Two thirds (64%) of men who are retired and live with a retired partner reported a High level of satisfaction with how household tasks are divided, compared with 28% of retired women living with their retired male partner.
• Just under half (46%) of female respondents who are retired and live with a retired partner said they are mostly responsible for organising their social interactions e.g. meeting up with extended family and friends compared with one in twenty (5%) male retirees living with a partner who is also retired.

Financial freedom

• In opposite sex partnerships, over nine in ten (93%) women say that they feel free to spend money on themselves without asking permission from their partner, compared with 83% of male respondents.
• In same sex partnerships, 97% of women and 91% of men said they feel free to spend money on themselves without asking permission from their partner.
• Three in four (75%) men and 86% of women in an opposite sex partnership who are not employed and whose partner is working reported feeling free to spend money on themselves without asking permission from their partner.