New research out this week from Hibernian Life indicates that working mums in Ireland are spending an average of 45 hours a week on domestic chores over and above any paid employment they may undertake outside the home.
- 45 unpaid hours a week spent on household chores
New research out this week from Hibernian Life indicates that working mums in Ireland are spending an average of 45 hours a week on domestic chores over and above any paid employment they may undertake outside the home.
This average of 45 hours does not include time spent caring for their children, or child related activities like the school run and helping with homework.
Mums say they spend on average 12 hours a week on food preparation, 7 hours a week on laundry and 4 hours a week on shopping for the household.
If a value were placed on this work of €15 an hour, which is the average cost of employing a cleaner/housekeeper in Ireland today, the cost would be in excess of €35,000 annually. Admittedly, most women don't view the work they do in such mercenary terms, viewing it instead as part and parcel of running a busy household. However placing a monetary value on it helps us to estimate what it would cost a household to function normally in the event of the death of the mother and homemaker.
Could a surviving male partner take on all the additional responsibilities of running a home as well as continuing to hold down a job?
Jokes about men and multi-tasking aside, the answer is that most men would quite simply not be able to cope and would need to pay someone to carry out many of the domestic tasks while they earned the family's income as the sole remaining breadwinner. But how could he afford it when the Hibernian survey indicates that more than half of all women surveyed have no life cover at all, and that 78% of women who work outside the home are not provided with any life assurance benefit by their employer in the event of their death.
Given that many women who work outside the home work part-time perhaps the lack of any death-in-service benefit is not surprising, many employers tend not to offer extra benefits to part-time staff. However what is more surprising is that given this fact that more families have not opted to take out life assurance for the main homemaker.
According to Gareth McQuillan, marketing and product development director with Hibernian Life: "The monthly cost of life insurance for a healthy female in her 30s can be as little as €20 a month*. I would strongly urge families to assess their financial situation and consider the importance of the role of the homemaker, and how they might cope if the worst were to happen. For women with young children, whether they work outside the home or not, life insurance should be regarded as an absolute essential, not a luxury."
*Current monthly rates for €350,000 worth of cover for a 20-year period are:
Age 30 (non-smoker): €20.01
Age 30 (smoker): €30.84
Age 40 (non smoker): €39.34
Age 40 (smoker): €71.70
To obtain life cover speak to your broker/financial advisor or drop into any branch of AIB.
-ends-
Press contact:
Kela O'Riordan, 01 898 8482, 086 606 8842, kela.oriordan@hibernian.ie
Notes to editors:
Hibernian Group is Ireland's largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top three for life and pensions.
Hibernian Group is a subsidiary of Aviva plc, the world's fifth-largest insurance group and the UK's largest insurance services provider (based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2006), and is one of the leading providers of life and pension products to Europe, with substantial positions in other markets around the world. Aviva employs 58,000 staff worldwide.
Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
The product information above is for press release purposes only, full details are contained in the product literature available from Hibernian.
Hibernian news releases are also available on http://www.hibernian.ie/