Equality Street Blues for Generations Social Reformers Have Fought for a Level Playing- Field, but What Does That Mean in Britain Today?

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A NEW law is being proposed in Austria: that men and women do equal shares of the housework. This has caused considerable excitement among those who envisage an implacable government- sponsored Harpic Hit Squad, ready to swoop in and force dusters and brushes into the hands of unwilling men. The reality is rather less thrilling: the law will simply state that, in theory, men and women should take equal responsibility for housework and there will be no active enforcement. Still, Austria has made a clear statement of the egalitarian principle by making the allocation of domestic tasks the subject of legislation.

But does it make that much difference, really, who polishes …