Women are still doing more of the household chores than men, according to a new study.
The Canadian study, published in Springer’s journal, Sex Roles, found that women of all ages, incomes and workloads, do more around the house than their male partners.
The research studied more than 900 Canadians from high school to work and from adolescence into adulthood. Researchers gathered data from various stages in the participant’s life, including aged 25, 32 and 43.
They studied how domestic chores were delegated and whether they were influenced by income, marital status, working hours and childcare.
University of Alberta’s Rebecca Horne, lead author of the report, said, “Women consistently perform more housework than men do.”
“Patterns of housework responsibility between men and women tend to be quite consistent at each life stage despite minor fluctuations in the volume of housework chores.”
She continues, “Overall, time, money and gender variables seem to be important for explaining the division of household labour, albeit to varying intensities depending on stage in the life course.”
The new research follows data released by the Office of National Statistics in 2016, that showed that daily household chores and childcare are still falling to more women than men.
The analysis showed that women carry out, on average, 60 per cent more unpaid work than men. Unpaid work includes cooking, laundry, cleaning, adult care and childcare.
On average, men do just 16 hours a week of unpaid work, compared to the 26 hours of unpaid work done by women in a week.
Horne hopes that her new research will promote greater gender equality and help partners become more aware of the many factors that shape domestic life.
