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Men create more housework for women
Having a husband creates an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, according to a new study.
Having a husband creates an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, according to a new study. For men, tying the knot saves an hour of weekly chores.
"It's a well-known pattern," said lead researcher Frank Stafford, an economist at University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. "Men tend to work more outside the home, while women take on more of the household labor."
He points out individual differences among households exist. But in general, marriage means more housework for women and less for men. "And the situation gets worse for women when they have children," Stafford said.
Overall, times are changing in the American home. In 1976, women busied themselves with 26 weekly hours of sweeping-and-dusting work, compared with 17 hours in 2005. Men are pitching in more, more than doubling their housework hours from six in 1976 to 13 in 2005.
Stafford analyzed time-diaries and questionnaires from a nationally representative sample of men and women over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2005. The federally-funded study showed that, both the men and the women who got married did more housework than those who stayed single.
"Marriage is no longer a man's path to less housework," he said.
Single women in their 20s and 30s did the least housework, about 12 weekly hours, while married women in their 60s and 70s did the most - about 21 hours a week.
Men showed a somewhat different pattern, with older men picking up the broom more often than younger men. Single guys worked the hardest around the house, trumping all age groups of married men.
Having kids boosts house chores even further. With more than three kids, for instance, wives took on more of the extra work, clocking about 28 hours a week compared with husbands' 10 hours.
一项最新研究发现，女人有了老公后每周得多做七个小时的家务活，而对于男人而言，结婚则意味着每周少做一小时的家务。
密歇根大学社会研究所的经济学家、首席研究员弗兰克•斯坦弗德说：“‘男主外，女主内。’这是一个众所周知的家庭分工模式。”
斯坦福德指出，尽管各个家庭间会存在个体差别，但总的来说，女性婚后承担的家务活增多，而对于男性而言则是减少。“有了孩子后，女性的家务活负担会进一步加重。”
不过随着时代的发展，美国家庭的家务活分工情况总的来说还是有所变化。1976年，女性每周花在家务活上的时间为26个小时，而2005年为17个小时；如今男性做家务的时间比过去增加了一倍多，从1976年的每周六个小时增加到了2005年的每周13个小时。
斯坦福德对一组具有全国代表性的男性和女性十年的时间使用日记和调查问卷进行了分析，这些数据资料的时间跨度为1996年至2005年。该项由联邦政府提供资金支持的研究发现，与单身人士相比，已婚男女做的家务活更多。
斯坦福德说：“由此看来，对于男性而言，结婚不再意味着少做家务。”
研究发现，二三十岁的单身女性做的家务活最少，每周做家务的时间约为12个小时，六七十岁的已婚女性做的家务活最多，每周约为21个小时。
而男性的模式则有所不同，年龄较大的男性比年轻男性做的家务活多。单身男性最勤快，他们做家务的时间超过了各个年龄段的已婚男性。
而有了孩子后，家务活负担会进一步加重。妻子承担了更多增加的家务，如果孩子数量超过三个，她们每周做家务的时间会增加到28个小时，而丈夫仅为10个小时。
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