Working in the home: housework, childcare, managing a household and maintaining a pleasant environment – all crucial jobs which are often not talked about or even acknowledged as ‘work’. It’s time we started discussing it and breaking silence around this often invisible physical, emotional and intellectual labour.
We want to hear your stories of working in the home – who does the hoovering in your house? In the current coronavirus crisis, millions have been confronted with their homes and the domestic work required to maintain them in new ways. Maybe you divide up the housework equally between the people in the household, or maybe you are taking on more of the housework and childcare responsibilities to support someone working on the frontline. Whatever your family situation, we want to hear from you.
Your stories
- Separating work from home – David’s story
I currently live with my partner. We both work for the NHS as allied healthcare professionals. My partner’s job has remained relatively the same, with them going into a hospital at their usual shift times. Mine, however, has been quite different. I have had to bring a large amount of my work into the home which has brought specific challenges. The role is emotionally very demanding and it is much harder to get a sense of separation from work and the home. I have managed to create some distance by setting up an office in the spare bedroom. - Cleaning around the home – Debra’s story
Cleaning be it essential to ensure your home is dirt, grease and grime free!! Well as best as it can be, is at best necessary but sometimes irksome. I am always surprised at how dust creeps in even after a week, as well as the hidden grit that you unintentionally find when walking barefoot across the floor. Yet I did only washed the floor earlier that day! I clean what would be deemed as ‘thoroughly’ once a week, but I daily clean the toilet, sink and kitchen area. My mother would clean pretty much every moment of the day, which […] - Balancing work – Angela’s story
I am a menopausal mother of 4 with only our youngest (18) still at home. I work at home as a hairdresser, though much less now as finances are in a healthier place than when we had a big mortgage and all the children to support, my husband works full time for TFL. Even back then when we had a lodger living in our living room to help make our incomes stretch, I have always had a cleaner, working from home meant the house always had to be clean and I hate cleaning, I would rather do an extra set […] - Balancing the burden of work – David’s story
I live with my wife who also works full time but at hours and at weekends and is quite physical that is not conducive to having time to do much housework and on her days off needs the rest. For those reasons I undertake most of the house work cleaning the bathroom and toilet, general dusting and hoovering, all cloths washing and other general tasks. We both shop and cook for ourselves and do our own ironing, although on the odd occasion she will iron my shirts. Then once every few months I will employ a cleaner for a more […]
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Tales of domestic labour
Got a story to share? We welcome stories from anyone, no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what your domestic arrangements may be.
Hi Vanessa, thanks for your story. The whole pink jobs vs blue jobs is a really interesting area I think,…