Men and women's working hours are nearly equal.

[FloralBunting]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53558250

I'm not fabulous at statisical stuff, but I looked at the bar graph in this report and it still looked like women do more unpaid work than men, who do less childcare and also spend more time watching telly and on other leisure activities.

And yet the title is that 'men and women's working hours are nearly equal'.

I think that the article is trying to references that the gap has got smaller, but even so. I think the title is rather misleading given the graph. Am I misunderstanding something that is actually very good here?

Stats are so poorly reported by journalists - I’d look at what the IMF is saying (covid crisis could set women back 30 years) and IFS firstly.

There is a reason BBC got kicked off from my house.

@FloralBunting

Goose, well your last paragraph is exactly why I would query the purported equality being lauded here.

I'm still not seeing how anyone can spin women doing more unpaid work than men as equality. I mean, yes, remuneration is not the only gauge of how worthwhile work is, obviously I agree with that. But equality literally means equal, so if unpaid work is so very worthwhile, then how come relatively few blokes are embracing it eagerly?

If the goal is to have men and women be identical in every social, economic, or cultural measurement, that's never going to happen. It's never going to happen between individuals either.

I don't really see that as what equality is about. More equality of dignity, equality in how we value people. If we believe in that, we can find ways to give people good lives even with different kinds of outcomes.

How far would we go to make time spent in unpaid work the same - would we force mothers and fathers to take equal time of when having kids? Force single parents to all have joint custody, even of infants? That's just a numbers game.

Yes, Goose, equality clearly means everyone will be identical. That's definitely what I was arguing for.🙄

I have a headache, so excuse me for not engaging the debate today, Goose, I'm often up for it, but I have had far too much screen time today, so sleep and pills beckon.

@kesstrel

Here's a link to the actual report:

www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2020/07/The-time-of-your-life.pdf

Glancing at it quickly, it strikes me that it is covering ages 18-64, which would have a big smoothing-out effect on the differential unpaid work during the child-rearing years.

Thank you very much, I was having a really hard time finding the report after reading the BBC article. It's a shame that the contents aren't as revealing as I'd have liked on unpaid work.

Goosefoot, as another example, I really enjoy cooking, possibly because I'm only cooking for myself. It's slightly saddening to know that what I perceive as leisure time is dragging the numbers down.

How far would we go to make time spent in unpaid work the same

As a slightly more flippant example, they could arrange all the shops like Ikea and only give maps to women, thereby increasing the time men spend shopping.

If the goal is to have men and women be identical in every social, economic, or cultural measurement, that's never going to happen. It's never going to happen between individuals either.
So you do acknowledge at least that women and men are working differently in their homes. When these hours add up each week, why do women end up doing all the things that still take huge chunks of time and a lot of energy? Where do the face the impact of it? There is this new article in Nature that says men’s productivity in terms of writing papers has gone up. Women’s productivity has gone down. Very significant numbers too.
So where does that impact go? Any idea?

How far would we go to make time spent in unpaid work the same
As far as it takes. It’s not rocket science. Take the total number of chores, calculate hours it takes to do it, divide those hours equally and spread across chores and months. It’s simple, basic maths. It also takes approximately 2 hours max to make a list like that for one household. It truly isn’t rocket science.