Women in dual-income couples with children spend an average of one hour and 43 minutes more per day on housework and caregiving than men, a government analysis showed. The gap has narrowed by nearly half over the past decade as men took on more, but the burden on women remains far heavier.
Married men aged 25 to 39 with children in dual-income households spent an average of two hours and 17 minutes a day on housework and caregiving, according to an analysis of young adults' time use by marital and parental status released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on the 19th. Women in the same category spent four hours, about 1.8 times as much as men. The analysis drew on the ministry's time-use survey to examine how young adults spend their 24 hours.
The gap between men and women in dual-income households narrowed by one hour and 33 minutes from three hours and 16 minutes a decade earlier. Over that period, men added 27 minutes of housework and 35 minutes of childcare. Women, by contrast, cut 30 minutes of housework while their caregiving time was unchanged. Greater participation by men has eased the imbalance somewhat.
Women also carried a heavier load among dual-income couples without children. Married women without children in dual-income households spent one hour and 39 minutes a day on housework and caregiving, 34 minutes more than men, who spent one hour and five minutes. Household labor was concentrated among women regardless of whether a couple had children.
The divide in how men and women allocate their time was starker across all married young adults with children, without regard to whether both spouses worked. Men spent five hours and 29 minutes on paid work and two hours and 14 minutes on housework and caregiving. Women spent five hours and 45 minutes on housework and caregiving while putting two hours and 14 minutes into paid work.
Time allocation also shifted with marital and parental status. Housework and caregiving time was longest among married young adults with children, followed by married adults without children and then unmarried adults. The more a young adult moved toward marriage and parenthood, the more time went into household labor and the less into leisure.
Unmarried young adults spent an average of four hours and 26 minutes a day on paid work, four hours and 42 minutes on leisure and 51 minutes on housework. Compared with a decade earlier, their work time fell by 12 minutes while housework and leisure rose by 10 and 11 minutes, respectively.
Married young adults without children spent 23 minutes more on work and 42 minutes more on housework than their unmarried peers, but 35 minutes less on leisure. Those with children spent two hours and 20 minutes more on caregiving and 20 minutes more on housework than married adults without children, while spending one hour and 12 minutes less on work and 54 minutes less on leisure.
Ahn Hyung-joon, head of the Ministry of Data and Statistics, said the analysis showed in concrete terms how young adults' time use varies by marital and parental status. "We will continue to provide the basic data needed to craft policies that support work-family balance and improve quality of life," Ahn said.
