Living-Today: Issues of modern living

HOUSEWORK

Men are doing 33 percent more housework today than they did in 1965.

That's according to a survey by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, which found American men performing 16 hours of housework a week -- compared with 12 hours in 1965.

Researchers analyzed data from time diaries and questionnaires asking men and women to recall how much time they spend on housework in an average week. Housework included cooking, cleaning and doing other work around the house.

Women are still doing much more housework than men, about 27 hours a week. Said ISR researcher Frank Stafford, "Our research shows that most people rate routine housework as the least enjoyable use of their time."

Despite beliefs that Americans are working more hours than ever, the time diary data indicate total work hours decreased substantially from 1965 to 1985 for both men and women. From 1989 to 1999, the questionnaire recall data indicate paid work in the labor market increased by 10 percent for men and 17 percent for women, reflecting the decade's strong job market and the increasing labor market participation of women.

Men seem to work more hours overall -- market labor plus housework -- than women in countries with high levels of income, the study found, while women work longer hours elsewhere.

Swedish men put in 24 hours a week on chores, more than men in other countries, while Japanese men do the least housework, about four hours a week. Hungarian women do the most housework while Russian women do the least.

"Cross-national comparisons of the gender gap in housework hours indicate that Americans are less gender egalitarian than the Swedes but more egalitarian than the Japanese," ISR researcher and sociologist Hiromi Ono said.

Leisure time is greatest in Japan, Sweden and the United States and lowest in Hungary, for both men and women, with television viewing substantially higher in Japan than elsewhere, especially among women.

CRIMINAL CASE DOCUMENTS

The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved a pilot program that will allow Internet access to some high-profile criminal case documents.

The conference is the principal policy-making body for the federal courts and held its semi-annual meeting Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. It's last meeting was somewhat abbreviated -- it had barely convened on Sept. 11 when Capitol Hill was evacuated following the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

However, the conference did vote last September to make most civil and bankruptcy case documents available online, at least to the same extent they are available in courthouses.

"We're trying our best from the standpoint of protecting protectable interests," said U.S. District Judge Charles Haden II, noting that what is kept private on paper will be kept private online.

Wednesday's decision was driven by the high public and media interest in the case involving Zacarias Moussaoui, who is scheduled to be tried this fall in Alexandria, Va., on conspiracy charges. Moussaoui -- a French national of Algerian heritage -- is alleged to have participated in the conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. District Court in Alexandria, with conference permission, allowed online access to documents in his case on an interim basis.

Moussaoui is the only person to have been charged directly in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Judicial Conference adopted a recommendation from its Committee on Court Administration and Case Management to allow a pilot program for Internet access to criminal case files, and delegated to the committee the selection of cases for the program. The program should be applied "where it's determined that there is an incredible demand" for documents, "where the electronic access is the best way to go" and when the judge and all parties involved agree to it, Haden said.

(Thanks to UPI Legal Affairs Correspondent Michael Kirkland)

DISCOUNT DRUGS

An innovative drug discount program in California designed to ease the costs of prescriptions for Medicare recipients is not reaching many low-income seniors, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

California's drug program was enacted in 1999 and requires pharmacies participating in the Medicaid program to offer Medicare patients the same cut-rate prices for drugs. In order to receive the sizeable discount, Medicare recipients must present their Medicare card to pharmacists, a routine that they're not accustomed to performing.

The study examined pharmacies' compliance with the new program by sending out 15 Medicare beneficiaries to 500 pharmacies in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area. They told the model customers to ask for three common brand name prescription drugs using a standardized script.

The researchers found that 75 percent of the pharmacies readily offered the drug discount to the customers. Pharmacies that were part of a chain or that were in higher-income neighborhoods tended to have a higher compliance rate than independent stores and those in low-income areas.

"Our findings suggest that low-income seniors who could benefit the most from these discounts may not be receiving them," said lead author Joy Lewis of Veteran Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and RAND Health.

The study also found that unless customers are assertive in demanding the discount, they are less likely to receive it -- only 45 percent of the pharmacies offered the reduced rate without being specifically asked for it.

The findings are important to Medicare recipients -- mostly the elderly and disabled -- because the discount saves them an estimated 20 percent on their monthly prescription drug bill.

Medicare recipients across the country -- especially the one-third that have no prescription drug coverage -- have been struggling over the past several decades to keep up with the soaring price of pharmaceuticals. California's experiment with mandating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries is being closely watched by at least 10 states that are considering similar legislation.

BOOK BANS

Harry Potter and books on witchcraft, ghosts and social issues are on a list of more than 50 books a teacher's prayer group in Kentucky wants removed from the Russell County High School.

The Russell Springs, Ky., group -- which includes both parents and teachers -- asked in a letter last month that a special committee review library books that "may need to be removed." The letter said God had revealed the presence of the troubling books. "God spoke to my spirit and we must do 'HOUSE CLEANING!'" it said. "He cannot come into a place that is corrupted. We must not allow for these books to continue polluting the minds of our teenagers."

Other than author J.K. Rowling's four best-selling Harry Potter titles, books challenged by the prayer group include "World's Most Famous Ghosts" by Daniel Cohen, "The Witchcraft of Salem Village" by Shirley Jackson, "Satanism: Rumor, Realty and Controversy" by Allen J. Ottens and Rick Myer, and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.

"Harry Potter by far has been the most challenged book for the past three years," said Beverely Becker, associate director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom in Chicago. "Most of the complaints involve kindergarten through sixth grade elementary schools and school libraries."

Becker said her ALA office tracked more than 6,300 challenges to books in the past decade -- more than 500 last year -- but estimated only 20 percent to 25 percent of such complaints were reported to the library association. "The biggest complaints have been about sexual content, offensive language, witchcraft, the occult and Satanism," she said.

Mark Twain's American classic, "Huckleberry Finn," "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, and "Ordinary People" by Judith Guest are among the most challenged books in high schools, the ALA said.

Russell County High School has a policy that permits people to request a review of library books, but Principal Roger Cook said no one had complained about a book in more than 20 years. He said the high school council had asked the prayer group for more information and told them how to form a fair review committee.

The Lexington Herald-Leader said the group failed to present a proposal at a council meeting Tuesday night.

"Personally, I think none of the books should be taken away," businessman Donnie Wilkerson told the newspaper. "Leave that to the parent's to make that decision."

(Thanks to UPI's Al Swanson in Chicago)