How attitudes to everyday tasks have changed in the past 80 years

The mundane tasks of everyday life, such as homework after school and household chores at the weekend, may not have changed in the past 80 years, but societal attitudes towards them could not be more different.

- Sally Weale

A study by the Policy Institute at King's College London (KCL), comparing public attitudes now and in the 1930s and 40s, reveals how significantly views on everyday life in Britain have shifted over the decades.

Homework is probably as unpopular as ever with children, but today seven in 10 people think pupils should have to do it in their own time after school. In 1937 it was just two in 10, while 79% opposed it.

Opinion on single-sex education has also shifted. In 1946, 43% thought boys and girls should be taught separately; now, three-quarters (76%) are in favour of them being taught together.

Much has changed in the home. Eighty years ago a quarter of men (24%) said they never helped with the household chores. Now, just 4% say this, though evidence suggests women still do far more housework than men.