Men Are Doing More Housework Than Ever, Study Finds
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It seems men are doing more hours of housework than ever before, according to a new study.
Of course, the idea that men shouldn't be doing their share of household jobs is completely archaic, but over the last 40 years, men have increased the amount of unpaid work they do each week by 5 hours 35 minutes.
'The Time of Our Lives' study, by the Resolution Foundation, explored changes in how people have been using their time over the last four decades. It looked at how this differs when considering gender, geography and household income level - and how it might change again post-Covid.
It also found men are doing less paid work, while women are doing more. Over the last 40 years, women have increased their paid working hours by five hours and 18 minutes, to 22 hours per week. Meanwhile, women have reduced their unpaid hours by two hours 44 minutes.
Men on the other hand, have seen their paid hours reduced by eight hours and 10 minutes, to 34 hours per week, while their unpaid hours have increased up to 16 per week.
So to summarise, the study found the total working hours among men and women are now roughly equal, with both doing around 50 hours of paid and unpaid work per week.
However, 'The Time of Our Lives' study also found a reduction in leisure time, rather than the increase that many economists predicted.
For example, women have increased their daily time spent doing paid work (up to 45 minutes) and childcare (up to 28 minutes), while men have increased their unpaid work (up to 48 minutes), childcare (up to 14 minutes) and sleep (up to 29 minutes).
George Bangham, Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "Debates around how people spend their time often focus on a single goal - speeding up the move to a shorter working week to enable more time for socialising, sport and hobbies.
"But this isn't how people's lives have changed over the past four decades, desirable as it may be. Men are doing less paid work, while women are doing more. Both have less time for play - with childcare up, and leisure time down.
"Instead, a worrying new 'working time inequality' has emerged, with low-income households working far fewer hours per week than high-income ones.
"As many households rethink their time use in light of the lockdown, it's important to remember that while some people want to work fewer hours, others want or need to work more. And for many, control of working hours can be as important as the amount they do."