A study in the UK suggests men are catching up with women in their devotion to domestic duties, but it only takes a bit of digging to uncover that blokes still have a long way to go before they are doing their fair share of chores.
Numbers from the Office for National Statistics indicate men are now spending an average total of 337 minutes a day on work, nearly nudging women who dedicate 18 more minutes on a combination of paid work and household tasks daily.
On closer inspection, it is the amount of time spent on paid employment that tips the scale for the men, who work an average 38.4 hour week, compared with 33.3 hours for the average employed woman.
On the domestic front, it is clear that women are doing more than pulling their weight around the house, devoting almost double the time that men do on housework daily.
Women outstripped men in time spent on almost all domestic work categories accounted for in the study, including childcare, cooking and washing up, shopping, and laundry, on which women spend almost five times the amount of time than their male counterparts.
The male workload has increased by almost an hour since the 1970s, with men doing more cooking and cleaning, but still, you won’t find the average man with an iron in his hand for more than four minutes a week.
Psychologist Dr Colin Gill said that pressure relating to men’s status could be a contributor to an increased interest in housework.
“It may mean they are taking on more work in the home not simply to save or preserve their money, but also to assert their masculinity,” he said.
A study undertaken at Oxford University earlier this year also found that men were picking up their act, concluding they would be doing the same amount of house work as women by 2050.
Once paid work is taken into account, as in this study, the gap between hours worked by men and women could close by the end of the decade.
Your say: Does your partner do their fair share of the housework? Tell us more at [email protected]
