Silly Season is A Labour of Love for Aussie Women
SYDNEY, Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Fed up women are outsourcing Christmas because they are sick and tired of shopping, cooking and cleaning on the big day while their male partners relax, new research(1) reveals.
The Newspoll research conducted for Million Dollar Woman Life Insurance reveals that Australian women are putting in double the amount of time and energy into preparing and shopping for Christmas than their male counterparts, bringing new meaning to the phrase "silly season".
"Over 40% of Australian women spend more than eight hours purchasing gifts for Christmas with 20% spending more than 15 hours."
"As a comparison 25% of men spend less than one hour at the shops while more than half spend under 3 hours," said Million Dollar Woman Chief Executive, Lynette Argent (see Table 1).
And it seems that it doesn't stop there, Aussie women are a lot more involved on Christmas day, on average spending 50% more time on their feet preparing the roast with all the trimmings (see Table 2).
"While the women are in the kitchen preparing Christmas lunch and dinner, typically the men are road testing Christmas presents, kicking back and having a drink.
"On average women spend three hours preparing on Christmas day, while males spend around two," said Ms Argent.
The research shows that on average 30% of Australians get assistance from family or friends to purchase food and drink, presents, cleaning, decorating, preparing or cooking food, while some (2 to 4%) outsource these tasks completely by paying someone to do them (see Table 3).
"Christmas is probably the last event to be fully outsourced, however our research uncovers some Australian families are looking to outsource these type of activities, presenting great opportunities for Australia's small businesses, restaurants and clubs," Ms Argent said.
A quick search online reveals five-star hotels in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are virtually all sold-out on Christmas day with lunch ranging from $140-$250 per head.
(1) Research conducted by Newspoll in November 2011 online among a sample of 1219 respondents aged 18-64 years. Results were weighed to ABS population estimates. |
|
Table 1 – Time purchasing and preparing gifts
Male |
Female |
Total average |
||
No time |
9% |
5% |
7% |
|
Less than 1 hour |
15% |
5% |
10% |
|
1 – 3 hours |
33% |
20% |
26% |
|
4 – 5 hours |
21% |
18% |
19% |
|
6 – 7 hours |
8% |
10% |
9% |
|
8 – 10 hours |
7% |
13% |
10% |
|
11 – 15 hours |
2% |
8% |
5% |
|
15+ hours |
5% |
21% |
13% |
|
Table 2 – Time personally spent preparing food and drink on Christmas day
Male |
Female |
Total average |
||
No time |
13% |
7% |
10% |
|
Less than 1 hour |
28% |
15% |
22% |
|
1 to 3 hours |
37% |
48% |
42% |
|
4 to 5 hours |
17% |
20% |
19% |
|
6 to 7 hours |
3% |
5% |
4% |
|
8 to 10 hours |
1% |
2% |
1% |
|
11 to 15 hours |
0% |
1% |
1% |
|
15+ hours |
0% |
2% |
1% |
|
Table 3 – Outsourcing Christmas
Purchase of food and drink |
Preparing food or drink |
Purchasing presents |
Cleaning home pre or post Christmas |
Decorating your home |
||
Unpaid assistance |
33% |
39% |
24% |
26% |
22% |
|
Paid assistance |
3% |
3% |
2% |
4% |
3% |
|
Neither |
64% |
58% |
74% |
70% |
75% |
|
Million Dollar Woman Living Insurance is issued by SLSL. Any advice contained in this document has been prepared by SLSL without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situation or needs. For that reason, before acting on the advice you should consider the appropriateness of this product in regards to your objectives, financial situation and needs.
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SOURCE Million Dollar Woman
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