Article: as women make more, husbands do less housework

[Anonymous]

Fascinating. Of course just one study but still an interesting take.
At least there's the positive trend of husbands cooking more.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/10/the-only-chore-men-will-do-is-cook/505067/

[Anonymous]

I saw that. I was curious about some of the phrasing in this paragraph:

"American women tend to do more housework than women in other countries—about four and a half hours each week, on average. “Meanwhile, Spanish women only spend about an hour and a half a week on housework, Brazilian women spend only 1.6 hours a week,” they write. But “French women spend almost no time on housework at all. French men, on the other hand, spend 1.2 hours a week on housework, well more than the .8 hours a week spent by American men.” (Ladies, your secret, s'il vous plaît!) Also, “Japanese and Slovenian men do the most housework, at 1.3 and 1.4 hours a week.”"

From that, it's not clear to me whether Spanish and Brazilian men are spending more time on housework than American men. It seems to glory in French men doing 1.2 hours per week of housework but, if you do the math on the 15 minutes per day it says American men do on housework, that works out to 1.05 hours per week -- or a difference of about 9 minutes per week. (Though there is some conflicting information in the article, in one place, it says 15 minutes per day while in another, it says 0.8 per week -- which would be 6.9 minutes per day.)

But, why the hell are American women spending 3.15 hours per week on housework when nobody else comes close?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw that. I was curious about some of the phrasing in this paragraph:

"American women tend to do more housework than women in other countries—about four and a half hours each week, on average. “Meanwhile, Spanish women only spend about an hour and a half a week on housework, Brazilian women spend only 1.6 hours a week,” they write. But “French women spend almost no time on housework at all. French men, on the other hand, spend 1.2 hours a week on housework, well more than the .8 hours a week spent by American men.” (Ladies, your secret, s'il vous plaît!) Also, “Japanese and Slovenian men do the most housework, at 1.3 and 1.4 hours a week.”"

From that, it's not clear to me whether Spanish and Brazilian men are spending more time on housework than American men. It seems to glory in French men doing 1.2 hours per week of housework but, if you do the math on the 15 minutes per day it says American men do on housework, that works out to 1.05 hours per week -- or a difference of about 9 minutes per week. (Though there is some conflicting information in the article, in one place, it says 15 minutes per day while in another, it says 0.8 per week -- which would be 6.9 minutes per day.)

But, why the hell are American women spending 3.15 hours per week on housework when nobody else comes close?

Beats me but I think I'm going to be French for the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw that. I was curious about some of the phrasing in this paragraph:

"American women tend to do more housework than women in other countries—about four and a half hours each week, on average. “Meanwhile, Spanish women only spend about an hour and a half a week on housework, Brazilian women spend only 1.6 hours a week,” they write. But “French women spend almost no time on housework at all. French men, on the other hand, spend 1.2 hours a week on housework, well more than the .8 hours a week spent by American men.” (Ladies, your secret, s'il vous plaît!) Also, “Japanese and Slovenian men do the most housework, at 1.3 and 1.4 hours a week.”"

From that, it's not clear to me whether Spanish and Brazilian men are spending more time on housework than American men. It seems to glory in French men doing 1.2 hours per week of housework but, if you do the math on the 15 minutes per day it says American men do on housework, that works out to 1.05 hours per week -- or a difference of about 9 minutes per week. (Though there is some conflicting information in the article, in one place, it says 15 minutes per day while in another, it says 0.8 per week -- which would be 6.9 minutes per day.)

But, why the hell are American women spending 3.15 hours per week on housework when nobody else comes close?

I wish someone could answer that. Is it just a cultural thing to pride ourselves in perfect looking homes?

[Anonymous]

I think all these time use studies must be seriously flawed. How could anyone literally do no housework? No laundry, no dishes, no nothing?

[Anonymous]

Bigger houses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw that. I was curious about some of the phrasing in this paragraph:

"American women tend to do more housework than women in other countries—about four and a half hours each week, on average. “Meanwhile, Spanish women only spend about an hour and a half a week on housework, Brazilian women spend only 1.6 hours a week,” they write. But “French women spend almost no time on housework at all. French men, on the other hand, spend 1.2 hours a week on housework, well more than the .8 hours a week spent by American men.” (Ladies, your secret, s'il vous plaît!) Also, “Japanese and Slovenian men do the most housework, at 1.3 and 1.4 hours a week.”"

From that, it's not clear to me whether Spanish and Brazilian men are spending more time on housework than American men. It seems to glory in French men doing 1.2 hours per week of housework but, if you do the math on the 15 minutes per day it says American men do on housework, that works out to 1.05 hours per week -- or a difference of about 9 minutes per week. (Though there is some conflicting information in the article, in one place, it says 15 minutes per day while in another, it says 0.8 per week -- which would be 6.9 minutes per day.)

But, why the hell are American women spending 3.15 hours per week on housework when nobody else comes close?

OP here. I have no idea. Bigger homes with more stuff/clutter? More expensive household help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all these time use studies must be seriously flawed. How could anyone literally do no housework? No laundry, no dishes, no nothing?

I will ask my dad.

[Anonymous]

More stuff in America.
Also just sitting and relaxing is more European. Reading, talking, drinking slowly, sitting in your outdoor space.

[Anonymous]

Brazil is not a good comparison. When I grew up there, my mom had three maids. One live in. One daily for moderate cleaning. And one weekly for heavy cleaning terraces, outside windows, etc). Oh. And our Gardner came daily.

Household help is and has been very cheap there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brazil is not a good comparison. When I grew up there, my mom had three maids. One live in. One daily for moderate cleaning. And one weekly for heavy cleaning terraces, outside windows, etc). Oh. And our Gardner came daily.

Household help is and has been very cheap there.

Well they should factor in the Brazilian and French women who do 40+ hours of housekeeping a week (i.e., as a job) and see what the averages are. Someone has to be doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More stuff in America.
Also just sitting and relaxing is more European. Reading, talking, drinking slowly, sitting in your outdoor space.

I love all that too and do plenty of it but the house has to be cleaned somewhat and food made anyway.
I really think it's the stuff. If you have fewer clothes laundry is faster (more often maybe but quicker to do and be done). Less clutter means less to sort and get out of the way to clean actual dirt. Fewer bathrooms makes it easier to keep them clean. (We have a smaller house and only one bathroom on the main floor which is ours, babys and any guests to the house) I make a point to clean it often and it's only a little swipe here and there if you do a little bit at a time.
Ugh. Makes me want to empty half my closets and get rid of it all.

[Anonymous]

I'm willing to bet the more money a man makes, the less housework gets done by women as well. Your household income reaches a certain threshold and things get outsourced, even if the woman doesn't work.

[Anonymous]

My DH does very little to no housework. But I SAH. If I worked, I would expect him to do his share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH does very little to no housework. But I SAH. If I worked, I would expect him to do his share.

Yes. But strangely that's not what the article is saying