Editor's note: This article appeared in the August 23, 2011, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
While many television commercials for household cleaning products would have you believe that women are the only ones who pick up a mop or a broom in the household, this is simply not the case. In fact, the amount of men cleaning is on the rise, according to data from Chicago research company Mintel. The percentage of men who say they do most of the household cleaning has risen from 17 percent in 2006 to 31 percent in 2011.
"The next generation of men are coming of age in an era when gender roles are less rigidly defined and men are set to become only more domestic," says Alexandra Smith, managing editor, Mintel Inspire. "The assumption of men relying upon partners to shop - or even having partners in the first place - is in need of revision. Brands that have long assumed their target audience to be women may need to take a second look at who's pushing the grocery cart."
Additionally, 55 percent of men who do household cleaning say cleaning the house gives them a sense of accomplishment (compared to 62 percent of women) and 26 percent describe it as a thankless chore. Regardless of sex, most household cleaners would be interested in speeding up the process, as almost half (42 percent) would be willing to pay extra for any product that makes cleaning faster.
"Of course, [men] aren't as likely to clean but the percentage of men who really enjoy cleaning is just as high as it is for women. These facts reveal that men remain an underexploited household cleaning target and the barriers to men's increased involvement in household cleaning are not great," says David Lockwood, senior analyst at Mintel.
Finally, moms and dads have specific cleaning preferences. Fifty-nine percent of parents with a child 18 years old or younger in the household are willing to pay more for child-safe cleaning products. Meanwhile, 20 percent say child-safe products don't clean as effectively as other cleansers.