Cleanly Men & Housework
More and more men are becoming househusbands, but women are still doing the brunt of the work.
In the last century, there was the “traditional” stereotype of what a family should look like. A man would go off to work and a woman would stay home to take care of their children and household. And while many houses did not look like this back then, the family and household setup have become even more complex in the modern age.
Nowadays, women are out working to make a living in this economic mess we call a world. And in the last few decades, the rate of this has kept on rising.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia released data that says men are taking on greater shares of household work while their lovers go out to work. But, women are still doing most of the cleaning.
The study was based on data collected from six surveys during 1986 and 2015. The study includes info from over 5,000 people across Canada. Each one submitted their daily activities over a 25-hour period.
That info found out that women in 2015 do housework for 65 minutes less than in 1986. Conversely, the amount of time men spent on housework rose. Over the last three decades, men have spent 40 minutes more on housework.
Looking at it another way, the study also found that the number of men who never did housework dropped in those 30 years. In 1986, 33 percent of male respondents said they never did housework. Then in 2015, only 16 percent said the same. In addition, 40 percent of men now say cook for the house. There’s also been a 23-minute increase in cooking since 1986.
Related: 11 Ways To Upgrade Your Bedroom
Researchers & Childcare
In reaction to this data, the researchers say that they were surprised by how much cleanly men have taken over some housework.
“When we went into this, we expected that men might have increased their time in cooking, but less so with respect to cleaning and the daily chores of housework that have traditionally been defined as ‘women’s work,’” said co-author Rima Wilkes, a professor of sociology at UBC.
“But we found that men are doing more of this traditional work around the house. It’s not all just barbecuing and maintenance, or cooking the occasional meal. We saw change across the board for men in all kinds of household tasks.”
That said, women are still pulling up the slack when it comes to childcare. While both men and women are working more often on taking care of their kids, women still spent two hours a day with them and men only spend 72 minutes.
A recent study from Rutgers University, however, suggests that engaging men more during early stages of pregnancy will make them more present for childcare. The study suggested providing dad-friendly pamphlets and reading materials as an initial way of doing this.
