'Men must do fair share of housework’

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

By the middle of this century the working population will have to carry double the number of pensioners than at present.

And the problems of the aging population will be compounded by the fact people are living longer.

The only way to resolve this is for women to have more children and, at the same time, for more of them to go to work outside the home.

The only way they will be able to carry this double burden will be if their husbands carry their fair share of the work at home, according to a conference on confronting demographic change.

“Europe’s demographic changes means it needs more children, a higher percentage of working women and care for the increasing number of elderly.

“The EU can tackle this magic triangle if everyone helps share the burden, through new ways of balancing work and family life,” the Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla told the conference.

The new situation would need new policies, new mentalities and new attitudes, he said.

In the next 25 years Europe will lose 21 million, or 7%, of its workforce and its growth potential will plummet to almost a half.

“We must pull out all the stops to react to this.

“Either we help out or we lose out,” he told the conference.