an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO
an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO
an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO
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20An <strong><strong>in</strong>vestigation</strong> <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>domestic</strong> <strong>laundry</strong> <strong>habits</strong> <strong>in</strong> EuropeThis survey <strong>in</strong>vestigates how people h<strong>an</strong>dle their <strong>laundry</strong>. To obta<strong>in</strong> exactknowledge we needed to question the person <strong>in</strong> charge <strong>of</strong> all or most <strong>of</strong> the<strong>laundry</strong> <strong>in</strong> the household. In all <strong>of</strong> the countries, when approach<strong>in</strong>g a person<strong>an</strong>d request<strong>in</strong>g <strong>an</strong> <strong>in</strong>terview, we had to ask if he or she was the person <strong>in</strong>charge <strong>of</strong> the <strong>laundry</strong> <strong>in</strong> the household. This me<strong>an</strong>s that the samples are representativefor the person <strong>in</strong> charge <strong>of</strong> the <strong>laundry</strong> <strong>in</strong> the different countries.There is one small difference, however: the Sp<strong>an</strong>ish sample was selected <strong>in</strong> adifferent way, by r<strong>an</strong>domly choos<strong>in</strong>g people <strong>in</strong> the streets to participate. However,s<strong>in</strong>ce the survey does not deal with a sensitive topic, we would not expectthat a higher proportion refused to participate <strong>in</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong>. On the otherh<strong>an</strong>d, it is import<strong>an</strong>t to have <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d the different sampl<strong>in</strong>g methods when<strong>an</strong>alys<strong>in</strong>g the data.2.1.2 Who does the <strong>laundry</strong>?Our po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> departure was that we w<strong>an</strong>ted <strong>in</strong>formation from the person <strong>in</strong>charge <strong>of</strong> the <strong>laundry</strong>. When approach<strong>in</strong>g a person, the <strong>in</strong>terviewer was <strong>in</strong>structedto ask for “the person who is ma<strong>in</strong>ly responsible for the household<strong>laundry</strong>”. Table 2.1 shows that <strong>laundry</strong> is primarily women’s responsibility,especially <strong>in</strong> Greece. There are small differences between the other countries.In Norway we f<strong>in</strong>d the largest share <strong>of</strong> men who are ma<strong>in</strong>ly responsible forthe <strong>laundry</strong>, 18 %, closely followed by Spa<strong>in</strong> <strong>an</strong>d the Netherl<strong>an</strong>ds with 15 <strong>an</strong>d14 %, respectively (see table 2.1).Table 2-1 The person <strong>in</strong> the household ma<strong>in</strong>ly responsible for the <strong>laundry</strong> <strong>in</strong> the differentcountries. Per centGreece(N=1000)496Netherl<strong>an</strong>ds(N=1001)1486Norway(N=1008)1882Spa<strong>in</strong>(N=1001)1585MaleFemale2.1.3 Different <strong>laundry</strong> <strong>habits</strong>?Households differ <strong>in</strong> m<strong>an</strong>y ways, <strong>an</strong>d we expect this to affect how much <strong>laundry</strong>needs to be done <strong>an</strong>d how it is done. We have already seen that the person<strong>in</strong> charge <strong>of</strong> the <strong>laundry</strong> is usually female. We w<strong>an</strong>ted to see if there were <strong>an</strong>ydifferences between the generations. When we divided people <strong>in</strong>to three agegroups, the <strong>an</strong>alysis reveals that there are relatively small differences betweenthe countries when it comes to age.