Who’s Doing the Housework and Childcare in America Now? Differential Convergence in Twenty-First-Century Gender Gaps in Home Tasks
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Graded by design analogy for non-clinical research: repeated cross-sectional population survey analysis over time.
OpenAlex W4407231660 · doi:10.1177/23780231251314667
What was done
The authors analyzed repeated cross-sectional time-use data from the 2003–2023 American Time Use Survey to examine trends in unpaid labor among married individuals in the United States. They tracked gender ratios across total housework, core housework (housecleaning and laundry), shopping, and childcare time, and conducted decomposition analyses to differentiate population compositional shifts from behavioral changes.
What was found
Among married individuals, the women-to-men ratio in total housework time decreased from 1.8:1 in 2003–2005 to 1.6:1 in 2022–2023. The ratio for core housework narrowed by 40 percent, falling from 4.2:1 to 2.5:1. Shopping time differences narrowed toward parity. The childcare time ratio decreased from 2:1 to 1.8:1, but this change was not statistically significant. Decomposition analyses revealed that women's reduction in housework was largely explained by population compositional shifts, whereas men's increase in core housework reflected behavioral or normative changes.
Why it matters
This study shows that domestic labor convergence has continued into the twenty-first century rather than stalling completely, driven partly by men taking on traditionally female-typed core tasks.
Limits
The abstract does not report the total sample size. The analysis is limited to married individuals in the United States and relies on self-reported time use. The narrowing of the childcare gap did not reach statistical significance.
Cited by
- supports The share of domestic work (chores and childcare) performed by men has risen every decade for the last 90 years and is at an all-time high.
- contradicts The average American father currently spends as much time on childcare as a 1950s stay-at-home mother did.