Most couples argue over who’s completed the biggest amount of chores – but a new calculator aims to help partners finally settle the debate.
Starling Bank has launched its Share the Load tool to help those in relationships plan household tasks equally.
The calculator asks couples to separately enter the amount of hours they spend on each chore before calculating how the load is currently shared.
It comes after research by the British digital bank found that partners can’t agree who contributes most, with 72 per cent of women saying they do the majority of household tasks, but just 18 per cent of men agree.
Rachel Kerrone, family finance expert at Starling: ‘Not many couples in the UK share the load equally when it comes to household admin and chores, and fewer seem to agree on how much the other person does.
Starling Bank has launched its Share the Load tool to help those in relationships plan household tasks equally
‘To help couples gain better balance at home, we’ve created the Share the Load tool, which allows people to see how household tasks are really split with their other half.
‘We want to make conversations around household equality easier and clearer, which is why we’ve made the tool free for everyone to use.’
Women take on even more of the load when they start a family, according to Starling Bank’s survey of more than 4,000 straight and 250 LGBTQ+ cohabiting couples.
The research suggested mothers have more responsibility for 12 out of 13 different aspects of childcare than fathers, from bedtime and bathtime to helping out with homework and buying clothes.
For example, mothers are eight times more likely to take responsibility for getting children dressed compared to fathers, six times more likely for changing nappies and five times more likely for preparing food.
The only aspect of parenting fathers are more likely to take primary responsibility for is ‘teaching children how to use tools and fix things’.
The calculator (pictured) asks couples to separately enter the amount of hours they spend on each chore before calculating how the load is currently shared
Relationship expert Hayley Quinn said: ‘The division of household tasks can feel entirely unromantic, even transactional.
‘But there are ways to improve your communication and the most practical way is to sit down, divide up different tasks and create a rota.
‘Aiming to talk about how to share the load objectively can also make it easier to navigate what can be a highly emotive topic of conversation, if you do feel unappreciated.
‘Effective communication can help reduce the burden of carrying the mental load, and keep both partners accountable for their responsibilities.’
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