Mothers More Likely to See an Uneven Division of Labor at Home % offathers and mothers in households where both parents are employed full time saying Mother does more Father do es more Sha re eq ually Managing children's schedules/activities Taking care of children when they're sick
More fathers than mothers in families with two full-time working parents say they and their partner share responsibilities about equally when it comes to managing the children’s schedules and activities, caring for sick kids and handling household chores, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Mothers in these families see it differently: Many say they are doing more when it comes to these tasks.
For example, in families with two full-time working parents overall, 59% of parents overall say they and their partners share household chores about equally, while 31% say the mother does more and 9% say the father does. Moms, however, are twice as likely as dads to say they handle more of these tasks. For their part, most dads see a more even division of household chores: 64% say they and their partner share this about equally.
While it’s hard to say whose account is the most accurate when it comes to how parenting and household responsibilities are shared, an analysis of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data provides a glimpse into how full-time working moms and dads spend their time. This analysis shows that while full-time working moms spend more time than full-time working dads on parenting and household tasks, the difference is modest. For example, mothers who work full time spend an average of 11.9 hours per week, or 1.7 hours per day, on housework, compared with 1.2 hours per day among fathers who work full time.
Mothers More Likely to See an Uneven  | Division of Labor at Home  | % offathers and mothers in households where both  | parents are employed full time saying  | Mother does more Father do es more Sha re eq ually  | Managing children's schedules/activities  | Fathers  | 8  | 45  | 47  | Mothers  | 63  | 32  | Taking care of children when they're sick  | Fathers  | 53  | 41  | Mothers  | 53  | 40  | Household chores and responsibilities  | Fathers  | 21 14  | 64  | Mothers  | 43  | 53  | Note Based on respondents who workfull time andare married to  | or living with a partner respondents who works children full time and is the parentofat  | leastone ofthe respondent's children (n=531). Voluntaryressonses  | of "Other" and Don It know/Refused" notshown. Voluntaryressonses  | Source: Pew Research Centersurvey of parents with children under  | 18 Sept. 15-0ct 13, 2015  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER  | 0358 b,e 