Women spend more time in unpaid domestic work than men: survey

New Delhi: A survey finds women spending more than three times of the time men devote to unpaid domestic work for household members, The Wire reported.

Time Use Survey 2024 (January-December) released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) however says that time spent is reduced by 10 minutes compared to five years ago.

Women spent 289 minutes a day for domestic chore that paid them nothing compared to 88 minutes spent by men.

In 2019, women spent 299 minutes a day, while men spent 97 minutes.

Women participated in the survey spent about 140 minutes in a day in caregiving activities, way more than men do so for household members.

However, male participants aged 15-59 years spent 74 minutes.

This means, 41% of women in the age group involved in caregiving for their household members, where only 21.4% men did so.

‘This corroborates the Indian social fabric wherein most of the caregiving responsibilities for household members are borne by the females of the household,’ the ministry reportedly stated.

Women aged between 15 and 59 years spent 305 minutes in 2024 for unpaid domestic services which is however 10 minutes less from 315 minutes in 2019.

On the other hand, only 25% of women in this age group took part in employment and related activities where 75% of men did so on an average in 2024.

Though women’s participation is low in this category which is still up from 21.8% in 2019.

Women joining workforce alongside carry burden of unpaid responsibilities including childcare and household chores, which could impair their ability to fully participate in the labour market.

First conducted in 2019, the current National Time Use Survey is the second by the ministry, according to the report.