Women Are (Still) Spending More Time Doing Housework
According to new time use data, women are still doing the lion’s share of housework and caregiving, while men are spending more time at work and relaxing.
Women in the U.S. spend significantly more time on housework and caregiving than men, while men spend more time relaxing, exercising, and working in the paid labor market, according to new data published this week.
The analysis, presented by the Pew Research Center and based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Time Use Survey, shows that women spend an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes a day doing housework, while men clock just 1 hour and 34 minutes.
The gender gap in housework is present across all age groups but is biggest for those in their 30s and 40s. Women in their 30s do an average of 2 hours and 17 minutes of housework, compared to the 1 hour and 25 minutes that men do. For people in their 40s, women do 2 hours and 21 minutes, while men do 1 hour and 29 minutes. The overall number of hours of housework rises with age, but the gap between genders shrinks.
Brigid Schulte
Overall, women in their 30s spend an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes every day on caregiving. Those in their 40s spend 1 hour and 6 minutes. Men in those age groups spend 46 minutes and 41 minutes on caregiving daily, respectively.
Men, on the other hand, spend more time than women relaxing—a trend that is consistent across age groups—as well as more time watching TV and exercising. They also spend more time working in the paid labor market, with the gap once again most pronounced for people in their 30s and 40s. In those age groups, women in their 30s spend, on average, 5 hours and 17 minutes a day working, compared to 7 hours and 4 minutes for men. For women in their 40s, the figure is 5 hours and 32 minutes, compared to 7 hours and 19 minutes for men.
While the American Time Use Survey has been conducted for over 20 years, this year is the first year that Pew has done this type of analysis so no trend data is available.
