American men are doing more cooking and child rearing than they did 10 years ago – but that doesn’t necessarily amount to less work for women, according to government data.
Women are spending more time cooking than they were ten years ago – nearly six minutes more per day, on average, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics data.
Men are also spending more of their time on cooking, though not nearly as much as women, who continue to spend substantially more of their day dealing with housework and childcare than their male counterparts.
Women consistently spend more time on housework than men do – and even though men contribute more when it comes to cooking and caring for children women aren’t getting a break as a result
In 2017, women spent an average of 49.8 minutes each day on meal preparation and clean up compared to 2017 when they averaged 44.4 minutes on the effort.
By comparison, men spent an average of 21.6 minutes a day on cooking and clean up in 2017, up from 16.8 minutes ten years prior.
The data suggests that extra work by men doesn’t necessarily offset the time commitment women make in the home.
Men are also spending more time caring for young children, spending 94.8 minutes each day parenting children under the age of six – a 26 percent increase compared to 2007, when they spent 75 minutes each day on that task.
They also pitch in with older kids, age 6-12, an average of 42 minutes per day in 2017, compared to 37.8 in 2007.
Despite those upticks, the average amount of time women spent on the same thing during the same time period has also increased slightly to an average of 160.8 minutes on younger children and 73.2 minutes on older kids in 2017, compared to 156.6 minutes and 70.8 minutes in 2007.
In 2017, women spent an average of 49.8 minutes each day on meal preparation and clean up compared to 2017 when they averaged 44.4 minutes on the effort. By comparison, men spent an average of 21.6 minutes a day on cooking and clean up in 2017, compared to 16.8 minutes ten years prior
Men actually spent less time on general housework in 2017 than they did a decade earlier: down to 13.8 minutes compared to 17.4 minutes in 2007. Women are doing less housework as well – but still considerably more than men: 51 minutes each day last year, down from 58.2 minutes in 2007
And men actually spent less time on general housework in 2017 than they did a decade earlier: down to 13.8 minutes a day compared to 17.4 minutes in 2007.
Women are doing less housework as well – but still considerably more than men: 51 minutes each day last year, down from 58.2 minutes in 2007.
The data is consistent with the attitudes and ideas of a majority of Americans, according to a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans expect women to have the primary responsibility for cooking at home – even if they spend the same amount of time at work and make more money than their husbands.
The numbers are similar for other household chores: 74 percent believe women should be responsible for cleaning the house; 75 percent when it comes to doing laundry, 73 percent for grocery shopping and 82 percent for taking care of children’s physical needs.
Roughly three-quarters of Americans believe women should be responsible for cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping and doing laundry, according to a new study
‘This is largely a product of cultural expectations,’ said Natasha Quadlin, of Ohio State University, a co-author of the study.
‘Women are often expected to do housework and childcare tasks in heterosexual couples, even when they work full-time and have other commitments,’ she added. ‘This is a holdover from previous generations, when fewer women worked for pay outside the home.’
The survey found men are expected to do a few things – 88 percent believe car maintenance falls to them and 87 percent say they should handle outdoor chores.
‘Men tend toward “fun” activities with children, like taking them to the park,’ Quadlin said. ‘It’s great that dads are spending time with children, but this leaves moms to do most of the nitty-gritty childcare tasks that must be done every day.
Researchers at the University of Washington found one potential upside to dividing chores along traditional gender lines: Husbands and wives who do so report having sex more frequently than those who have more egalitarian arrangements.
In fact, those couples had sex 1.6 times more frequently than couples in which the man took on more traditionally feminine tasks.
Men are also spending more time caring for young children, spending 94.8 minutes each day parenting children under the age of six – a 26 percent increase compared to 2007, when they spent 75 minutes each day on that task
American men spend slightly more time pitching in with older kids, age 6-12, than they used to – spending an average of 42 minutes per day caring for them in 2017, compared to 37.8 in 2007