MUM’S THE WORD.. BUT STAY-AT-HOME DADS UP

Women still do the bulk of childcare

THE number of Irish stay-at-home dads has almost doubled over the past few years – but still the vast majority of parents who look after kids full time are mums. In the past 10 years fathers in Ireland who do daily childcare have risen by more than 4,000 – from 4,900 to 9,200. But the Central Statistics Office revealed 98% of parents looking after the family in the house are still women, with 445,500 stay-at-home mums listed. The report also reveals the average age at which women gave birth to their first child rose from 24.8 in 1975 to 30.5 in 2014. And it also found Irish women are more likely to have a third-level qualification than men, with more than half of females aged 25 to 34 having one last year, compared to 42.9% of men. It also stated less than a quarter of TD s in the Dail Eireann were women in 2016 and men have a higher rate of employment. The male employment rate last year was 69.9% compared to the female rate of 59.5%. Statistician Helen Cahill said: “More girls than boys sat higher level papers in the Leaving Certificate exams in English, French, Irish, Biology, Chemistry, Art, Home Economics and Music in 2016. “More boys than girls took higher level papers in mathematics, physics, design and communication graphics, construction studies and engineering. “Women are significantly underrepresented in decision-making structures in Ireland at both national and regional levels. “Less than a quarter of TDS were women in 2016 and they accounted for 21.4% of members of local authorities. “The average female representation in national parliaments in the EU in 2016 was 28.7%.” The report also showed significantly more adult men were classed as overweight than women – 63% of men over 18 fell into that category compared with 48% of women. Just over 20% of men over 18 are binge drinkers too, compared to just 6.8% of women. Nearly a quarter of all men over 15 smoke – 23.9% – and a fifth of women over 15 have the habit.

MORE dads are staying home to mind the kids.

That makes 9,200 men to 445,500 stay-athome women. Just shows when it comes to hard work it’s still a mum’s world.