The number of Irish women engaged in home duties stood at more than half a million in the third quarter of this 
year, according to the CSO.
Of these, less than 10 percent were seeking employment indicating that the vast majority of such women were doing home duties voluntarily.
Despite this, Budget 2011 hit one-income married families harder than either single person or two-income married families.
Only 6,900 men were engaged in home duties.
The figures are contained in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey [1]. It shows that female participation in the workplace declines as women marry and have children.
For example, the percentage of single women aged 35-44 who are in the workplace is 76.1 percent, whereas the percentage of married women in this age group in the workplace is 67.5 percent.
However this does not capture the full picture because women are far more likely than men to be doing part-time work. In the third quarter of this year, 122,900 women were doing less than 20 hours paid work per week as against 34,200 men.
The survey also confirms that married men are much more likely to be in paid employment than single men, especially as they reach middle age.
Ninety-two percent of married men aged 45-54 were in paid employment as against 72.3 percent of married men in the same age group.
Studies have shown that marriage encourages men to hold down a job and that marriage overall is good for the economy.
In addition, married women with young children are far less likely to be work either full or part-time than married women with older children.
The survey shows that 79,400 married mothers with at least one child under the age of five were engaged in home duties, as against 30,200 married mothers with children aged five to 14.