The Source of Women’s Extra Housework: Their Husbands!

By Alex in Home & Garden on Apr 28, 2008 at 12:52 am

University of Michigan researchers have just discovered the reason why married women always have so much housework to do: their husbands!

A new study from the University of Michigan shows that having a husband creates an extra seven hours of extra housework a week for women. But a wife saves her husband from an hour of chores around the house each week.

"It’s a well-known pattern. There’s still a significant reallocation of labor that occurs at marriage — men tend to work more outside the home, while women take on more of the household labor," said Frank Stafford, of the university’s Institute for Social Research (ISR), who directed the study.

"And the situation gets worse for women when they have children," he added in a statement.

Link – via Miss Cellania

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Lore
Apr 28th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Uh… Duh.
su.wei
Apr 28th, 2008 at 1:18 am
any woman could have told you this…

i guess it’s nice that they have “data” to support it though
Parker
Apr 28th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Fascinating how two adults living together in 2008 can create more housework for one member and less for the other when it’s likely both work outside the home. I’d like to know who their subjects were.
Lord of the Manor
Apr 28th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Why did God give women small feet? So they can stand closer to the kitchen sink.
Lasse
Apr 28th, 2008 at 4:52 am
I should show this to my girlfriend. She doesn’t do enough to live up to these standards.
HeartlessMachine
Apr 28th, 2008 at 6:25 am
These statistics do not include mowing the lawn, fixing the broken garbage disposal, painting, or building a deck.
Alannah
Apr 28th, 2008 at 6:31 am
My husband pointed out that while I may do more housework, he earns a higher income, so I would be without those little luxuries in life if it were not for him. Is that worth seven hours a week of my time? You bet.
MoniA
Apr 28th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I guess I lucked out. My husband does as much housework as I do. He’s awsome and I love him for it
Aeris
Apr 28th, 2008 at 7:16 am
captain obvious strikes back!
matt
Apr 28th, 2008 at 9:20 am
yet another one of these studies where my life experience is the exception to the rule…

my dad always has, and still always does all the housework, while my mom doesn’t. ironing, dishes, laundry, and yard work. and my wife and i split a lot of the duties, while i tend to do a bit more outdoors and she tends to do a bit more with general daily cleaning.
matt
Apr 28th, 2008 at 9:24 am
If they weren’t so lazy they’d get it done in 3 hours.
CJ Casey
Apr 28th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I’d just like to know why chores traditionally done by men (yardwork, auto maintenance, repairs and ‘fix-it’ jobs) were left out of the study. It’s almost like they deliberately wanted to skew the numbers. Of course, when I mentioned this problem to my wife, she responded by saying ‘you never do any of those things anyway’ but still…
Ray
Apr 28th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Ever wonder why husbands die before their wives?

Because they want to.
E
Apr 28th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Funny comments. Actually, as a guy, I know a lot of dudes who flat out can’t cook or clean after themselves, and damn near live like vagrants when they are single (not me btw). So when they get married the wives either have to pick up the slack or seriously lower their living standards.
snichael
Apr 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Of course, some guys are slobs…but 73.8% of all women have the pathological urge to keep cleaning and cleaning until the place looks like a museum, or somewhere actual people don’t, y’know, LIVE in.
Jimbo
Apr 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
What do you tell a wife with two black eyes?

Nothing, she has already been told twice!
L
Apr 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
“These statistics do not include mowing the lawn, fixing the broken garbage disposal, painting, or building a deck.”

Three of those are one-off chores. You maybe do them once a year (or less). If you count daily and weekly tasks like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, cooking… Well, you can see how that would add up a lot more quickly.

And maybe I live in a weird neighbourhood, but the people pushing the lawnmowers are mostly women…
CheeseDuck
Apr 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Wow! I did NOT know that!
Alecks
Apr 28th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Wow… so many sexist comments… must be the influx of Digg users from Neatorama’s featured articles.
bacaorr
Apr 28th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I wish I could have participated in this study – I would have totally skewed these numbers! I don’t think I do 7 hours of cleaning a week unless I have someone coming to visit.

My husband works part time and he generally does the dishes because he’s home before me and not because he’s been asked too. He vacuums and sweeps for the dame reason. He also has to wear a uniform to work and so he washes clothes more than I do.

I also don’t keep a lot of crap out that requires dusting like knick knacks and photographs. I like to think of myself as minimal but know deep down that I hate to dust.
HeartlessMachine
Apr 28th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
““These statistics do not include mowing the lawn, fixing the broken garbage disposal, painting, or building a deck.”

Three of those are one-off chores. You maybe do them once a year (or less). If you count daily and weekly tasks like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, cooking… Well, you can see how that would add up a lot more quickly.”

Sure, washing the dishes happens every day. For 10 minutes. Mowing the lawn takes a couple hours. Then edging takes another hour. And then every month or so, you got to trim the hedges. When the grass isn’t growing, you’re raking leaves. Or shoveling snow, or trimming those tree limbs that have been scraping the siding. And while you are up on the ladder, the gutter is starting to droop on that side of the house. Oh, that’s because the wood it’s attached to has started to rot. So that’s got to be replaced. And it probably started to rot because the shingles need to be replaced. So fix all that.

So yeah. That stuff doesn’t count because it isn’t done every day for 10 minutes.

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