Housework gender divide persists in dual-income households, says US survey

Women in the US are doing more childcare and housework even in couples where both partners have jobs, according to a new survey.

The 2015 Women in the Workplace report, published by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the Lean In campaign, finds that 41% of women in dual-income relationships are taking on more responsibility for childcare, while 30% are doing more household chores.

The report notes that, although younger couples split housework more equally, women under 30 still do the majority of childcare.

The report also finds that, while the majority of employers are now offering some kind of flexible working policy, these are not being taken up by employees. Less than half of the employees surveyed believed that gender diversity was a priority for their company’s CEO.

Leslie Stratton has written for IZA World of Labor on the determinants of housework time. She writes that: “Efforts to reduce the gender wage gap and alter gendered norms of behavior should reduce the gender bias in household production time and reduce inefficiency in home production. Policymakers should also note the impact of tax policy on housework time and consider ways to reduce the distortions caused by sales and income taxes.”

The journalist Brigid Schulte has also written an opinion piece for us about her personal experience of gendered division of labor in the home. She argues that policymakers should promote shared parental leave in order to encourage equal division of labor at home and, ultimately, equality in the workplace.

Read more on this story at the Wall Street Journal. The Women in the Workplace 2015 report can be found here.

Related articles:
The determinants of housework time by Leslie S. Stratton
Childcare choices and child development by Daniela Del Boca
Childcare subsidy policy: What it can and cannot accomplish by Erdal Tekin
Policies to support women’s paid work by Gianna Claudia Giannelli