Despite massive gains in education and employment, women still shoulder a larger share of the housework than men. Women today spend, on average, roughly an hour and 20 minutes per day cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. About a third of that is just spent cleaning. Men, on the other hand, spend about half an hour performing these duties – and only 10 minutes scrubbing and tidying. This household chore – or duty – inequality is evident over time, across professions and even when women work longer hours and make more money. Even in Sweden, where government policies are strongly geared toward promoting gender equality, women do more housework. Swedish women do two times as much daily housework than men even though women are much more likely to work full-time than in other countries. Naturally, the more time spent on chores, the less a woman has to spend on other activities like sleep, work and leisure.
