Link survey on Women's Day: balanced division of tasks not yet achieved
To mark International Women's Day, the market and social research institute LINK asked the Swiss population a number of questions on the subject of gender equality. Traditional role models were examined, as well as the willingness to take on a leadership position.
A majority of respondents believe that many tasks should be performed by both men and women. Exceptions are basic vehicle maintenance and snow shoveling. A majority of these two tasks are assigned to men, 58 % and 50 %, respectively. When it comes to washing, ironing and supplying laundry, wrapping presents and furnishing and decorating the house/apartment, more than a third of respondents see women as responsible.
The situation is different when participants are asked specifically about the division of tasks in their last relationship: For example, 76 percent of respondents think that both men and women should earn most of the money to support the family - but in fact this division of tasks was only present for 45 percent in their last relationship. The situation is similar with household cleaning, where although 83 percent of respondents see both men and women as responsible, in the last relationship only 54 percent had both women and men taking on the task.
Women and men in management positions
When it comes to dream jobs in childhood, primary school teachers (26 percent), veterinarians (20 percent) and nurses (17 percent) lead the way among women, while among men it is pilots (29 percent), police officers (23 percent), professional athletes and craftsmen (17 percent each). However, one third of the respondents each also had another dream job that was not listed.
The current workload was also queried, and here it emerges that at 57 percent, more than half of the men work 91 to 100 percent - among women, this is only 24 percent. Accordingly, the proportion of women with lower workloads is higher than that of men.
Finally, the participants were also asked whether they currently hold a management position - and whether they could imagine taking one. Almost a third of the men surveyed (31 percent) currently hold a management position, compared with only 18 % of the women surveyed. However, significantly more people on both sides of the survey could imagine themselves in such a position: 65 percent of men and 48 percent of women could.
