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Gender inequality starts with discrepancy in childhood chores

Gender gap starts with discrepancy in childhood chores
SANLIURFA, TURKEY – OCTOBER 28: (TURKEY OUT) A Kurdish refugee girl from the Syrian town of Kobani carries water in a camp in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 28, 2014. (Photo by Kutluhan Cucel/Getty Images)

The wage gap between genders may begin before women even enter the workforce, according to a new a report from UNICEF.

The disparity in pay can be linked back to childhood as many girls are being tasked with performing more household chores than their male counterparts.

According to the report, titled “Harnessing the Power of Data for Girls, ” girls around the world between the ages of five and 14 spend 160 million hours a day more than boys of the same age cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, fetching water or firewood, caring for their siblings and other duties.

Girls ages five to nine spend an average of four hours per week performing these chores, but that number rises to nine hours for those between the ages of 10 and 14.

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These figures are 30 and 50 per cent higher than boys from the same respective age groups.

In the three countries where girls are saddled with the most of the domestic work – Somalia, Ethiopia and Rwanda – more than half of girls aged five to 14 can spend at least 14 hours a week, or at minimum two hours a day, picking up these duties.

UNICEF said this data is troubling because it shows how their childhood roles can dash girls’ hopes for the future and push them into gendered career paths.

“The types of chores commonly undertaken by girls – preparing food, cleaning and caring for others – not only set the state for unequal burdens later in life but can also limit girls’ outlook and potential while they’re still young,” UNICEF said in the report.

“The gendered distribution of chores can socialize girls into thinking that such domestic duties are the only roles girls and women are suited for, curtailing their dreams and narrowing their ambitions.”

According to Quartz, nearly 90 per cent of girls are growing up in low- and middle-income countries, most in parts of Asia and Africa, where physically-demanding chores are the norm.

And it is girls who are often asked to shoulder the majority of these household burdens and give up opportunities to “learn, grow and just enjoy their childhood,” Anju Malhotra, principal gender advisor at UNICEF, said in a press release.

“The overburden of unpaid household work begins in early childhood and intensifies as girls reach adolescence,” she said.

“This unequal distribution of labour among children also perpetuates gender stereotypes and the double-burden on women and girls across generations.”

The report added that household chores are not valued as much as jobs, which renders the societal contributions of girls less visible and has “lasting effects on their self-esteem and sense of self-worth.”

The global pay gap between men and women remains firmly entrenched, despite progress in recent years.

A 2015 report by the World Economic Forum found that the difference in wages will not be closed until 2133.

It also ranked countries in terms of their efforts to level the playing field. Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland led the pack, while Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Chad and Iran finished at the bottom of the 145-nation list.

Canada came in 30th, just two spots behind the United States.

A study from earlier this year by Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looked at the most up-to-date data from Statistics Canada on the issue and found that women earn roughly 72 per cent of their male counterparts’ salary.