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.
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 homework 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 markedly. 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% admit to this, though evidence suggests women still do far more housework than men.
According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2024 women spent an average of 3 hours and 32 minutes a day doing unpaid work activities including housework, caring for others and volunteering – 57 minutes more than the average among men.
Women today are happier being women. In 1947, almost four in 10 women said they would prefer to be a man – today that has declined one in 11. Men’s attitudes remain unchanged over the decades, with about only one in 20 saying they would rather be a woman.
Attitudes to fitness and work have also transformed. Today the majority of people (66%) say they exercise to keep fit, whereas in 1937 most (56%) did not. More people can swim, up from about half (54%) in 1946 to 79% today.
In the world of work, 80 years ago people prioritised job security over high wages (73% v 23%). In 2024, opinion was more divided – 46% thought high wages were more important (41%).
But getting up to go to work remains difficult. According to the KCL study, 40% of people struggle to get up in the morning, which is virtually unchanged from 1947, with women finding it harder than men.
The research, part of a series exploring societal and political changes in Britain, is based on data from historical polls compared with a survey of 1,000 UK adults carried out in December 2024.
Prof Bobby Duffy, the director of the Policy Institute, explained some of the changes.
“The much greater expectation on children to do homework makes perfect sense, as education levels and their importance to future success have increased hugely in the past 80 years.
“The education experience is entirely different for young people today than in the 1930s and early 1940s, when the school leaving age was still just 14 years old.
“We are also much more in favour of co-education, with boys and girls taught together – although it’s notable that younger adults are most likely to favour keeping the sexes separate, which may reflect other trends we’re seeing in terms of greater division between some gen Z men and women.
“And it’s a real insight into the lives of women back in the 1940s that nearly four in 10 said they would rather be men, compared with just 9% today – although that is still twice the proportion of men who say they would rather be women.
“We’re also now much more likely to be focused on pay than job security, which is an interesting pattern, given that unemployment was actually very low in the postwar years. This is likely to reflect the very real pressures felt on getting by today, even for those in work, given recent increases in the cost of living.
“Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men’s contribution to work in the home. But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that seems may always be with us.”
