International Women's Day - Irish Times Article

[Salvadore]

All-women firm with four-day week: ‘Friday off means we have weekends to ourselves’

Meath sisters say ‘flexible’ approach makes it easy to keep staff

www.irishtimes.com

Interesting piece in yesterday's IT about an all-female business operating in Meath. As part of what they do to improve the lot of their employees, they take Friday off, sometimes working later earlier in the week to ensure the work gets done.

The reason they're doing this is so they can do the laundry and food-shopping without it impacting their free time on Saturday and Sunday. The tone of the article celebratory, suggesting this is a benefit to women that should be replicated elsewhere.

Seriously? Is this what equality looks like? Ensuring that women have the time to perform their domestic responsibilities and still have a bit of time off? Are women happy with this 'win'?

Surely proper equality would require a scenario where domestic duties are shared between working parents.

Or did I just marry a wrong 'un?

 

[Purple]

When I was married I did all the cooking and shopping and nearly all the housework. I still managed to have the weekends off. Now I'm not married I still do all that stuff but the kids are older and they help more. It just requires a bit of planning. Luckily we have washing machines and dishwashers and vacuum cleaners now days so a few hours a week of getting stuck in gets all the cleaning done. Shopping can be done in an hour one evening during the week and cooking is a leisure activity to be enjoyed with the family in the evening.
Ironing is a pain though...

In short a bit of discipline during the week and you can still have your weekends free.

Even better; split the workload with your spouse and your children and you'll both be happier, there'll be fewer rows and your children will learn life skills.
In my opinion that's a better version of equality than giving "the little woman" a day off to attend to her domestic duties. Plus you'll be teaching your sons not to be inadequate misogynistic man-children.

When I hear grown men say with a sense of pride that they can't cook or don't know how to use the washing machine I look at them with contempt. They are making a virtue of their own inadequacy.

 

[RichInSpirit]

Friday off as well as Saturday and Sunday sounds like a great idea.
I'm sure one can do other things that day besides cooking and cleaning.

 

[Purple]

Friday off as well as Saturday and Sunday sounds like a great idea.
I'm sure one can do other things that day besides cooking and cleaning.

Of course it does but the reason given in the article is that the "wemmen" need to time off to attend to their wifely duties of cooking and cleaning and such. Do they also fix their make-up and warm their husband's slippers before he gets home in the evening?