ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – The gender gap in the U.S. workforce is narrowing. Women have surpassed men in obtaining college degrees. They’ve assumed many traditionally “male-dominated” occupations, and a record number of women have a seat in congress right now. But are they making the same strides at home? Is there a domestic imbalance?
Women are working more and getting paid more than ever before, but research shows they’re still doing the brunt of the work at home.
Studies show married moms spend almost twice as much time on housework and childcare than married dads. And although moms are much more likely to be working now, they spend more time on child care today than moms did in the 1960s. Even wives who make more money than their husbands report doing more household chores. Married breadwinner moms do almost an hour of housework a day compared to just 11 minutes of breadwinner fathers. That means women are working harder outside and inside the home.
How can women get their spouses to step up? Sit down with your partner and create a written list of chores and how long they take, so you can see if there’s a discrepancy. If there is, talk to your spouse about taking on more. Agree that gender has nothing to do with it. The split may not be even but make sure it’s a system that values you both.
Women typically take on inside chores like cleaning or cooking that have to be done daily. While men tend to gravitate toward outdoor chores like mowing the lawn, which happen less often. A recent study in the journal demography found that mothers married to men did more housework, slept less, and had less leisure time than single moms.
Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/05/breadwinning-wives-gender-inequality/589237
https://time.com/5589770/parenting-working-women-domestic-balance
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/upshot/why-women-but-not-men-are-judged-for-a-messy-house.htm
Contributor(s) to this news report include: Julie Marks, Writer and Robert Walko, Editor.
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