
 
 By Katya Adler 
 
 BBC News, Madrid 
 
 
 
 A marriage vow could include agreeing to take turns with chores 
 
 MPs in Spain have drawn up a marriage contract for use in civil ceremonies which obliges men to share household chores and the care of children and elderly family members. 
 
 The new law, which will be introduced this summer in Spain, promises a revolution in a country where nearly half of all men admit to doing no housework at all. 
 
 Puffing and panting and swearing under his breath, 36-year-old Santi Risco tries to put up an ironing board. He doesn't have much success and it's a pretty painful sight watching a previously undomesticated Spanish male trying hard to change with the times. 
 
 "Spanish law is changing so men have to do 50% of the housework," Santi tells me, rather red-faced. "I am getting married this autumn so I am learning things I've never done before: ironing, cleaning floors and doing the washing up. 
 
 "It's not that I'm a macho man. It's just that I've never been taught these things before." 
 
 Upbringing 
 
 Santi's trying to make up for lost time. He gives up on the ironing board and heads for the bathroom, ready to clean the mirrors. He is a man with a mission. The contract he will sign at his civil wedding ceremony this September will oblige him - by law - to share domestic responsibilities with his partner. 
 
 Failure to do so will affect the terms of a divorce settlement, should he ever find himself in that position. But even as Santi cleans up his act, Aintzane, his wife-to-be, says she remains sceptical about the new law. 
 
 I love macho men. They are more masculine and I don't care about doing some housework 
 
 Patricia, 
 
 schoolteacher 
 
 "It's good that Santi is beginning to do things in the house. Well, he has to. I told him about the consequences if he doesn't. But it's not just men. Women in Spain are also part of the problem. 
 
 "Our mothers tell us to do the housework when we are little girls. So when we go to a relationship we do the housework." 
 
 So can this "housework law" as it has been dubbed here really change Spanish cultural traditions? Statistics show that Spanish women spend up to five times longer on housework than their husbands. 
 
 If they have a full-time job, they still do three times more housework. 
 
 A study five years ago by the Centre for Sociological Investigation concluded that Spanish fathers spent an average of 13 minutes a day looking after their children. And only 19% of Spanish men thought it was right for mothers of school age children to have a full-time job. 
 
 Margarita Uria is the MP who set up the new law. 
 
 "It's all a question of education", she says. "Starting with this law, but we should also teach children in schools. Men have to learn to start taking more responsibility in the home and women have to help them do it. This is beginning to change. After all, the Spanish parliament was unanimous in approving this law." 
 
 Sceptics 
 
 At a nearby Madrid bar though, the view shared over a few draughts of beer was that there was little chance of change, law or no law. 
 
 Did General Franco press his own collars and cuffs? 
 
 "My husband wouldn't iron a shirt to save his life," says Berta, who described herself as an exasperated housewife. "It's not that he can't. It's just that he won't. He'll never change." 
 
 Eduardo, a waiter at the bar, says he thinks the law "is ridiculous". 
 
 "It's up to couples to work out the balance of relationships for themselves," he says. "This law gives the impression that all Spanish men are machos, which we're not." 
 
 "I already cook at home," says banker Miguel. "I also pick up the kids from school." 
 
 "Liar!" his wife interjects. "Yes I do," insists Miguel. "There was that time when you had to go to work early and took the children to school..." The couple dissolve in to laughter. 
 
 Iron will 
 
 "I don't like the new law at all," says Patricia, a schoolteacher. "I love macho men. They are more masculine and I don't care about doing some housework." 
 
 A number of women's rights groups in Spain say they oppose the housework law because it belittles the issue of sexual equality, making it laughable. 
 
 The law is aimed at turning Spanish machos into real iron men 
 
 "What is a woman going to do if her husband doesn't help her at home? March to the local police station and report him? You can just imagine the expression on the faces of the officers on duty, can't you?" 
 
 But while the law has been criticised by some, it has inspired others. The Barcelona-based inventor, Pep Torres, has designed a washing machine called Your Turn. It uses fingerprint technology so that it is impossible for the same person to use it twice in a row. 
 
 The idea, he says, is that men will be forced to share washing duties with their partner. And Pep has not stopped there. 
 
 He has also come up with a cunning idea to persuade even the most macho of men to do the ironing - heavy weights hanging down from the iron. Every time you sweep the iron across the board, you build some fabulous muscle! 
 
 "Basically my aim was to stop macho men sitting around the house doing nothing except drinking beers," says Pep. 
 
 One man who has already put down his beer and put on an apron is Santi. Hard at work at the kitchen sink and with Aintzane keeping a watchful eye, I found him practising his new marriage vows: To love, to cherish and to do the washing-up. ||||| Under Spain's draft Child Protection Bill, children will have to "participate in family life" and "respect their parents". Children washing up : Shutterstock 
 
 Children will be legally obliged to do housework and respect their school teachers under a new draft law approved in the Spanish Parliament on Friday. 
 
 Spanish parents and school teachers may soon have a new weapon in the battle against disobedient children after ministers approved a new draft Child Protection Bill recently. 
 
 If the law is passed, children under 18 in Spain will be legally obliged to do household chores "in accordance with their age and regardless of their gender". 
 
 SEE ALSO: Housework tops gripe list for Spanish couples 
 
 They will also have to "participate in family life" and respect "their parents and siblings", Spain's ABC newspaper reported. 
 
 There are obligations for minors on the school front too: children would have to "respect school rules" and "study as required". More generally these children "will have to maintain a positive attitude" about learning". 
 
 At the same time, will also have to "respect their teachers and other staff at education teachers", as well as their fellow students. 
 
 The draft law doesn't set out penalties for children who fail to fulfill these requirements, but marks a new shift in the legislation with its focus on the responsibilities of children. 
 
 Other key elements of the proposed bill include the establishment of a list of known paedophiles who could be banned from working with children. 
 
 Schools and companies hiring staff to work with children will have to ask applicants to provide a copy of their criminal record. 
 
 The legislation would also require people working with children to report possible crimes against children and failure to do so will be considered a crime of omission. 
 
 Don't miss stories about Spain, join us on Facebook and Twitter. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 Spanish children may soon be required to help out with housework, under a draft law that has been approved by parliament. 
 
 The measure, which would be part of a wider child protection law, says that children under the age of 18 have an obligation to participate in all areas of family life. That includes "co-responsibility in caring for the home and performing household tasks regardless of age and gender", the ABC newspaper says. The rules come under a section of the law called "the rights and duties of children". 
 
 Along with doing chores, children would also have to be respectful to their parents and teachers, and have a positive attitude towards learning. But the bill doesn't say anything about penalties for children who refuse to go along, the Local website reports. Other elements of the bill would see the establishment of a list of people who are banned from working with children, and it would become a crime for people who work with children to fail to report possible abuses against them. 
 
 Married Spanish men can also face legal sanctions for refusing to do housework - an update in 2005 to the marriage contract used for the country's civil ceremonies added a clause requiring men to share in household duties, and the care of children and elderly relatives. 
 
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– Is it a daily battle to get your kids to do their chores? You may want to move to Spain, where parliament on Friday approved a bill that would make children legally obliged to do housework—and more, BBC News reports. If the bill becomes law, those under the age of 18 will be expected to participate in family life, respect their parents and siblings, and perform household duties "in accordance with their age and regardless of their gender," according to The Local. The mandates extend to the schoolyard as well: Minors will also be legally bound to study, respect teachers, and "maintain a positive attitude" in the classroom. Though the government has yet to outline specific penalties for disobedient kids (and Parentdish notes there may not be any), this bill isn't necessarily an empty threat: BBC News reported in 2005 that, thanks to a then-new law, married Spanish men actually faced legal sanctions for refusing to do their share of the housework. Whatever may be in store for unruly Spanish children, improved safety may be part of the country's vision—this law is just part of a wider child protection bill that would see the creation of a list of pedophiles who aren't allowed to work with kids.