Is it just ME?

Or are you a victim of the eco gender gap too?

EARLIER this year my daughter’s primary school, in a laudable quest for eco-credentials, banned all plastics. No bags. No bottles. No cling film. No juice cartons. No plastic packaging of any kind.

That included all birthday treats, too. The cakes or sliced-up tray bakes must now be home-baked and arrive in a reusable box.

Of course, no one complained about this publicly. What are we, monsters? But once again it’s the lives of mothers (mostly) that get more complicated, our to-do lists subtly longer, our mental load gaining another item (or three).

It won’t take much longer to make an oaty bar, but who buys the ingredients? Who will clean up afterwards? Yes, I can bake cupcakes, but, you know, it’s another thing to do after a long day at work and not all women like to bake. I haven’t baked a cupcake since I was 12.

Once you start looking, you notice that much of the urgent planet-saving work is falling to women. Who is sourcing (and using) the refillable, eco cleaning and laundry products? Who’s scouring recipes for tofu spag bol to avoid beef?

Who does the charity shop runs? Who deals with the meltdowns when you explain, no, you won’t buy the magazine with the little plastic panda gift because one day — say this bit gently — it will end up in a dolphin’s blowhole?

Eradicating plastic from a school is a commendable aim. But perhaps if we put just as much effort into levelling the domestic playing field, it wouldn’t feel like such a chore.

Dads want to save the planet, too — let’s use the eco-crusade to speed up the rate at which they step up at home.

Once you start looking, you notice that much of the planet saving work is falling to women