Who buys the recycled toilet paper in your household? If you're a woman in a hetero relationship, there's a good chance it's you.
In a phenomenon known as the 'eco gender gap', women are more committed to regular recycling than men; they try to waste less food; they try to use less water, and they're more likely to regularly turn off the heating when they're not home, according to a survey by UK market research firm Mintel.
Women experience more 'eco-anxiety' than men, a 2021 study by the Global Future think tank and the University of York found. And women, who do more grocery shopping than men, are also much more likely to buy eco-friendly cleaning and other household products. (It's no accident that these products tend to be marketed to women.)
If the sustainability chores at home fall to you — and you're keen to even things up — here's how to get started.
Have an honest conversation about assumptions, and don't 'gate-keep'
Just because women generally take on more sustainability chores, doesn't mean that has to be the case in your home.
Having an intentional conversation about how you and your partner want to run your household "is really important", says Justine Alter, a Melbourne-based organisational psychologist who specialises in work-life balance.
"By default, often women take on the task of shopping," she explains, so if you want to work against gendered assumptions, you'll need to actively decide together who does what in your home.
"What's important is communication, and talking together about what you'd like to do, who will do it, and being really intentional about that division of labour if you want things to be equitable," she says.
If you don't want to be the one carrying the sustainability load in your home, it's also important not to 'gate-keep' these chores by insisting they be done your way, adds Ms Alter.
"What you don't want is a situation where one person — that's more often than not the woman — is insisting on doing the shopping because her partner doesn't 'get the right thing'."
Be guided by your strengths
Ann Burbrook and her partner Peter Bradbury are both passionate about sustainable living: the Wollongong couple ride electric bikes, eat plant-based diets, and are big on meal-planning to save on food waste.
While Ann drove many of the sustainable practices in their home at first, the couple has evened up the domestic load around sustainable living over time.
"I think I've been the driver, but I think I don't have to do the driving anymore," says Ann, who works for not-for-profit social enterprise Green Connect.
One thing that's helped the couple share the load of sustainable living: playing to their strengths.
Whenever they need to buy a washing machine or clothes dryer, for example, Peter researches recommendations from consumer advocacy organisations and compares up-front costs, whereas Ann researches longevity, as well as how much power and water the appliance will consumer over time.
"I'm more oriented towards the tech specs, and then Ann's probably looking at longevity over time," Peter says.
Peter's also "the best op-shopper I've ever met", says Ann. He's normalised buying second-hand clothes for the couple's two teen kids.
"I love the fact that when the kids want something new, they'll go, 'OK, let's trawl the op shops," says Ann.
"And my daughter, when she went to the formal last year, came to me and said 'Mum, can I go through your old dresses?'"
Meanwhile, Ann has encouraged the family to do away with single-use plastics. If one of them forgets to bring a reusable bag to the supermarket, she encourages them to take off their jumper and carry the groceries home that way.
"I also introduced a ban in the household where every time someone bought a plastic bag home, they had to donate $10 to the 'fix up the house fund' — just to make people aware that there's a cost to the planet," Ann says.
When dividing up tasks, consider what's most time-intensive
As well as having a candid conversation, Ms Alter says a thoughtful division of tasks can help even up chores at home.
Rather than blindly splitting the list of chores down the middle, you'll want to give some thought to how much time each task will take.
"Some things, like collecting food scraps, can be an intentional thing you agree to do as a household, and that takes very minimal effort. Others, like choosing to walk to school because it's more sustainable, can take longer," she says.
You might want to avoid assigning one partner all the "set-and-forget" tasks (a one-off installation of solar panels, for example) and leave the other with the repetitive, daily tasks like planning and packing plastic-free lunch boxes.
"It's just about balancing those time pressures, talking about what each of you need, and coming up with a plan that feels equitable for all," says Ms Alter.
"There's going to be some give and take, but ultimately it is achievable."
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