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Women making more money do less housework


Published: Nov. 20, 2007 at 2:31 PM
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AMHERST, Mass., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Making more money means doing less housework -- at least for married women -- a U.S. researcher finds.

The study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, finds for every $7,500 in annual earnings a married woman working full time makes, she expects to do one hour less of routine housework.

Study author Sanjiv Gupta of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says the critical element is how much a woman makes not how much she makes compared to her spouse. Married women do not seem to benefit greatly from the earnings of their husbands when it comes to housework.

"It's only about the amount the woman earns," Gupta says in a statement. "If she has a big paycheck, she's going to spend less time doing housework."

Women employed full time making $10,000 or less per year are predicted to spend nearly one hour more on housework every day that women making $40,000 or more, the study said.

The U.S. Bureau of the Census says the median annual labor market earnings of U.S. women rose from about $9,800 in 1965 to more than $16,000 in 1995, but during the same time period the married women spent on weekly routine chores declined from 30.4 hours to 15.8 hours.

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