Gender Equality Update: More Women Are Doing Less Housework These Days, Research Shows

Gender equality is mostly discussed in terms of employment and housework. And just recently, a study focusing on the latter showed that over the last 50 years, men's share in household tasks has increased. This is despite the fact that women are linked to having two hours of extra housework each day compared to men. When it comes to gender equality, numerous traditional countries in southern Europe have been catching up with progressive countries.

Phys.org reported that Italian and Spanish women spent the biggest time on household tasks compared to women in other countries all over the world. This was revealed in studies between 1961 and 2011. Apart from Italy and Spain, other countries wherein women had the most share of housework in the 50-year period were France, Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia/Slovenia.

On the other hand, Nordic countries lead the way towards greater gender equality. Studies say that there is no need to find equality in terms of housework, and their family-friendly policies indicate better support for women.  In Denmark, Finland, and Norway, recent time-use survey says that women did just over an hour more household tasks than men.

Meanwhile, changes were analyzed in various countries. Women in UK have decreased the amount of chores they do while men increased their share. But according to Mail Online, there is a slow move towards equality in the US. Today's men do only a little more household chores compared to the situation 30 years ago. Other countries that share similar findings are the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Finland.

According to Oriel Sullivan of the University of Oxford, "The overall picture is of a continuing move towards men and women sharing the housework more equally. Despite obvious progress over the last few decades, our research suggests a slowing down of gender equality in many countries." Sullivan is a professor of Sociology of Gender and co-director of the Centre for Time Use Research at the University of Oxford. He likewise co-authored the study.

At present, there is an apparent improvement in the fight for gender equality. There may be a slowing down in other countries, as earlier mentioned, but the goal remains to be intact.