Aussie women do much more unpaid work than men

Our load of unpaid work has increased since the pandemic hit – but one group of Aussies are still lifting the majority of the load.

The latest survey from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the household impacts of COVID-19 has shown a statistic that may not surprise many women.

The ABS report uncovered that Australian women are outweighing men with the amount of unpaid work they do for the household.

It appears that the amount of unpaid work men have picked up since the pandemic hit has increased as we have been forced to be at home more, but women are still taking on the majority of the workload.

Over the past year, with many Australians transitioning to working from home, we’ve been busier getting things done at home, such as caring for children and picking up extra chores around the house.

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Women are doing more around the house and are spending more time looking after children, even though men have been doing more in the past year. Picture: iStock

When it comes to looking after the kids, around 45 per cent of women with children spend more than five hours each week looking after them while more than a third of women spend more than 20 hours a week with their kids.

In comparison, around a third (32 per cent) of Aussie men spend more than five hours a week looking after their kids while just 17 per cent do more than 20 hours.

In addition, about a quarter of women spend more than 10 hours a week doing unpaid indoor housework compared to just 8 per cent of men. More than half of Aussie women spend more than five hours a week doing indoor housework, compared to just 28 per cent of men.

Men aren’t necessarily doing much more outside, though. When it comes to outdoor work, men and women are almost on par, with 7 per cent of men and 6 per cent of women spending more than 10 hours a week on outdoor household chores.

Women continue to be the ones who will most likely be cooking dinner, too, with more than half of women spending more than five hours a week making dinner compared to 30 per cent of men.

Even though women seem to be lifting the load, it appears men are doing more than they used to compared to the pandemic.

The only category that more women say they are doing less work is on shopping, which has mostly transitioned to online in the past year.