Census data reveals who is doing the housework on the Central Coast

IN SOME Central Coast suburbs the women are still doing the lion’s share of household chores and in others, the blokes are stepping up to carry the load.

Simone Channells looks on as husband Geoff does house work at their family home at Terrigal. (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

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GEOFF and Simone Channells, of Terrigal, are a 40-something husband-and-wife pair juggling full-time work with their young children’s school and junior sport commitments.

The busy life has turned Mr Channells into a handy husband and devoted dad.

He prepares school lunches, cooks evening meals, does homework with his girls — Hayden, 10, and Tyla, 8 — and even makes his wife a coffee as she gets ready for work each day.

“That is a true sign of how much someone loves you,” Ms Channells said of her husband, a NSW Health pathology services planner.

“I work full time and I’m also on committees for netball, Oztag and Little Athletics, so Geoff’s had to step up, but he’s a great help around the house.”

Mr Channells played down his heroics.

“I’m happy to help — and it has to be done,” he said.

How long both sexes spend doing housework

Stats show that in most cases women are doing the most housework.

NOT THE SAME EVERYWHERE

But the Channellses’ story is not replicated across Australia. In almost every postcode more men than women go AWOL when called up for domestic duty.

According to the 2016 Census data for NSW, more than one in five men (818,911) did nothing to help with food or drink preparation, cleaning, laundry, gardening, home maintenance, shopping or managing finances.

There were also 600,031 women (about 16 per cent) who said they did no chores.

This zero-hour housekeeping brigade is growing, up by about 80,000 for both sexes from the 2011 Census.

On the Central Coast, Charmhaven (postcode 2263) had the highest rate (23.5 per cent) of men doing no chores.

Blue Haven (23.1 per cent), Tuggerah (21.5 per cent) and Woy Woy (21.4 per cent) were not far behind.

NSW zero hours housework gender breakdown

People, housework and housekeeping concept. Couple doing the washing up together in kitchen interior

TERRIGAL MEN DO THE MOST

Terrigal and surrounds had the most helpful men at home, with only 16.4 per cent of them saying no to all domestic duties.

At the extreme end of the kitchen scales, about 40 per cent of men in Auburn and suburbs in the 2000 postcode said they did not lift a finger around the house.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle said there was a clear trend of people working longer hours and spending that extra income to outsource chores to people or robots.

“For a couple of decades now Australians have been into outsourcing anything that can be done, such as yard work and dry cleaning,” Mr McCrindle said.

“People are working harder and volunteering more. We’re not a lazy nation but a busy nation. We’re outsourcing labour, cooking and domestic chores and buying ready-made meals that do not require washing up.”

In some cases cultural differences account for the difference.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

The differences across NSW may be due to culture, generational attitudes, the number of blue-collar workers in an area and the number of homes, he said.

“In detached homes with families, domestic chores are part of life,” he said.

In inner-city areas such as Ultimo, an “almost exclusively student population” leads a different life focused outside the home, Mr McCrindle said.

“For blue-collar workers and men who work in trades, gender stereotypes may linger … the view of traditional labour is that chores at home are ‘not my thing’,” he said.

“The other factor in this is age — it could be a generational thing. In places like the inner west (of Sydney), with more Generation Y households, domestic chores are more equally split because both people are working.”

Some help, some don’t.

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WHO’S DOING WHAT

Charmhaven: Men 23.5 per cent, women 17.8 per cent

Blue Haven: Men 23.1 per cent, women 15.6 per cent

Tuggerah: Men 21.5 per cent, women 15.2 per cent

Woy Woy: Men 21.4 per cent, women 16.5 per cent

Bateau Bay: Men 21.2 per cent, women 14.9 per cent

Umina Beach: Men 21 per cent, women 14.8 per cent

Gosford: Men 19.1 per cent, women 14.2 per cent

Ourimbah: Men 18.9 per cent, women 11.2 per cent

Avoca Beach: Men 18.1 per cent, women 12.8 per cent

Terrigal: Men 16.4 per cent, women 10.8 per cent