Hot Topic (6/16): Household chores--who does more, you or him?

[Cafe GroupAdmin]

 According to the National Science Foundation, a study confirms that wives do most of the household chores. 

Do you?  Even if you work outside the home, do you do more household chores than your partner?  How do you feel about the division of labor in your household?

"Husbands create an extra seven hours a week of housework for wives, according to a new study. But wives save husbands from about an hour of housework a week.

Based on a representative sample of all U.S. families, the study of housework trends was released April 3 by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as part of the world's longest running study on income dynamics.

"There's still a significant reallocation of labor that occurs at marriage," says economist Frank Stafford, who directs the study. "Men tend to work more outside the home, while women take on more of the household labor. Certainly there are all kinds of individual differences here, but in general, this is what happens after marriage."

Conducted since 1968 by the university's Institute for Social Research, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It's a long-term, nationally representative study that collects data on the economic, health and social behavior of the same, nearly 8,000 U.S. families year after year.

"The PSID is the only instrument that lets us look at income mobility, people moving in and out of poverty, across three generations," says Dan Newlon, project manager for NSF. "The data allows us to look at the mid- to long-term socioeconomics of household dynamics."

Based on 2005 data, which have been compared to those from national time diaries, the research shows women, of all ages with no children, on average do 10 hours of housework a week before marriage and 17 hours of housework a week after marriage. Men of all ages with no children, on the other hand, do eight hours before marriage and seven hours afterwards.

"The situation gets worse for women when they have children," says Stafford.

Married women with more than three kids recorded an average of about 28 hours of housework a week, while married men with more than three kids logged only about 10 hours of housework a week.

According to the study, housework was defined as "core chores," or routine housework that people generally do not enjoy doing such as washing dishes, laundry, vacuuming floors and dusting.

"Routine housework, like cooking dinner or making beds, was captured in diaries, the primary tool used for the study of time allocation," says Stafford. Researchers supplemented the diaries with data from questionnaires asking both men and women to recall how much time they spent on basic chores in an average week.

Other activities such as home repairs, mowing the lawn, and shoveling snow were not in the study. "Items such as gardening are usually viewed as more enjoyable; the focus here is on core housework," says Stafford.

He says the fact that people generally do not enjoy core housework may explain the reason for so-called 'chore wars' between men and women. It may also explain the long steady decline in total core housework per week accomplished by both sexes.

Overall, U.S. women do considerably less housework today than in 1976, while the amount of housework men do has increased. In 1976, women did an average of 26 hours of housework a week, compared with about 17 hours in 2005. Men did about six hours of housework a week in 1976, compared with about 13 hours in 2005.

Single women, in 2005, who were in their 20s and 30s, did the least housework--about 12 hours a week on average, while married women in their 60s and 70s did the most--about 21 hours a week. The pattern for men was different. Older men did more housework than younger men, but single men did more in all age groups than married men.

"There has been an extraordinary increase in the number of women working outside the home over the last 30 years," says Newlon. "This study shows with men and women working, men still lag women in housework.""

[Mommy_of_Riley]

So I might be old fashioned but I am okay with that...

I do ALL of the chores in our home.  I keep the house clean... I do the dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping, etc.  I cook dinner (I start cooking when he calls and says he is on his way home b/c it takes 30 minutes for him to get home).  I raise our children (I'm a stay at home mom and do photography on the side - mostly just weekend jobs).  Most days I make sure his uniform and stuff for work is ready and by the door for him in the morning because he leaves at 6:00 am (I get it ready right before I go to bed).   

The only thing my hubby has to do is take the trash out and he folds his own sleeves on his uniform (He's a Marine and those camis are a pain in the butt!). 

But like I said before...  I am okay with all of this.  I think it is my "duty" as a stay at home mom.  My job in life is to raise my children, take care of my husband, and keep our home running.  My hubby is wonderful and very gratefeul so it isn't a problem for me.  Honestly... I am one of those women that could stay "barefoot and pregnant" cleaning the house and cooking meals for the rest of my life... 

[CullenLover]

i do all the household chores unless it's something i cant fix and i leave it to him, im  a sahm. i get up before he does to make sure he has clean clothes and towels for his shower, get some breakfast made and drinks/snacks made for work, and make sure he has another set of clothes ready for when he gets home @ lunch and dinner, every now and then i might ask him to do the garbage but other than that i have no problem doing housework

[realPatientMama]

In Belgium I do all the chores here.  I also cut the grass, trim the hedges, take out the trash and any maintenance needed in our home. It seems that is all I do...all day. My DH is out of the country often and he also works late hours.  But he loves to cook...so I let him. Anytime he wants.

In Jordan we have a maid, it's kind of like a vacation, very strange to have someone in your house waiting on you...doing the things you would normally do.  It is nice but uncomfortable at the same time.

 

[MinstrelMommy]

I do most of them, and I'm totally okay with that.  Even when I was working full time, I did most of them, and I wasn't okay with that then, but I did do all the housework better than my man...lol! 

Now that I'm home full time, I just do it. I might as well.  I'm the one who's here - he's gone at work all day.  The kids help out, of course.  ;-)

[Armywife6]

As a SAHM I feel that it's my job. The only things he does is trash, & yard work. I would do the yard work or at least help but the last time I tried I had an asthma attack so we figure it's better that he does it. We have the "rule" that whoever cooks the other does the dishes, this doesn't always happen so I'd say we share that. But everything else I take care of.

I have absolutly no problem doing this. I make sure he has everything  he needs for work everyday & when he gets home I have an outfit picked out for him usually. I have dinner either ready when he walks in the door or only a few minutes later. 

Now when our kids start school I will return to the work force & we'll see how that changes things but our only child is 14 months & we want another child so I have a few years before that will become an issue.

[mommybug77]

I am a SAHM & do the most. There are things I expect him & my older girls to do though too. 

[Raintree]

That would be me. He doesn't do a very good job...

[gogetem]

Couldn't be closer to 50/50 if we tried.  My husband is awesome with this stuff.  I think him being in the military has really taught him a lot of independence and responsibility.

[izzybear0217]

we both do them. there will be days where he does everything but cook and there will be days where i do everything. he works at night  so after the kids go to bed is when i try to get things done that didn't get done during the day so he can come home to a clean home.

[nbr1sahm]

I'm SAHM and I'm perfectly happy with the title of "homemaker." I love what I do and I appreciate that I'm available to keep house during the day so I can relax w/ DH on evenings and weekends when he's home. DH does very little around the house... maybe minimal chores during the weekends, but that's about it... but this is how I like it.