Barcelona: Spanish government will be launching an app to track the contribution of men or each family member to household chores. The goal is to improve gender equality in the country.
According to Spain's Secretary of State for Equality Angela Rodriguez, the app is aimed at highlighting the "mental load" disproportionately held by women when it comes to household duties.
"We'll soon be unveiling an app that will allow people to log the household chores that different members of the family perform so we can see how many hours of work we each spend on housework and thus reorder the time we spend doing that housework," she said at the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva.
The total developmental cost of the software was 2,11,750 euros.
"The challenge lies in designing comprehensive care systems from a gender, intersectional, and human rights perspective that promotes shared responsibility between men and women, the state, the market, families, and the community," said the ministry.
"We think this is an exercise that could be used at home to share the chores out between sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, or between flatmates or life partners because the division of those tasks is sometimes unequal," added Rodriguez.
The app will highlight the invisible jobs necessary for the smooth running of a house. Rodriguez, giving an example, said that cleaning the kitchen takes 20 minutes but it depends on whether someone included washing liquid in the grocery list or prepared the list at all.
"Ah, privileges, All of those who are offended by the household chores app are really offended by the possibility that they will have to start doing their bit at home," she tweeted.