Data Spotlight: Gender gaps in unpaid and paid work

The division of labor between mothers and fathers is a topic that generates a good deal of discussion, in scholarly circles, the media, and everyday conversations between family members. The share of unpaid work done by parents is a subject of particular attention. This is an important issue in terms of justice, as well as its potential impact on labor market engagement.

One frequently cited 2024 study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) shows that mothers spend twice as much time on household work and childcare as fathers. Even among parents who work full-time, mothers spend 1.6 times as many hours on unpaid work as fathers. A New Yorker article by Jessica Winter, “What did men do to deserve this?“, includes the following reference: “according to the Gender Equity Policy Institute, mothers who work full time do almost twice as much household labor as fathers.” The GEPI paper has also been referenced in The Atlantic and Matt Yglesias’ Slow Boring. Other studies using a methodology similar to GEPI’s come to broadly similar conclusions. A report by the Women’s Foundation of Massachusetts and the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College finds, for example, that “full-time working mothers spend about 30% more time caring for their children than full-time working fathers.”

In this research note, we extend the GEPI analysis to include a broader measure of unpaid work as well as a fuller account of paid working hours. We also narrow our focus to couples, since the division of labor within households is an important topic in itself: the GEPI analysis is of all mothers and fathers working full-time, regardless of family structure, and including single parents, most of whom are mothers.

Using pooled 2023–2025 time-use data, we first replicate the GEPI finding that mothers working full-time spend 1.6 times as much time on housework and childcare as fathers working full-time. We then limit the comparison to full-time working parents whose spouse or partner is also working full-time, which slightly reduces the ratio to 1.5. Extending the analysis to include forms of unpaid work more typically undertaken by fathers reduces the ratio to 1.4. Finally, we add mothers’ and fathers’ paid-work hours, rather than simply classifying each as working full-time using the standard threshold of 35 hours or more per week. This brings the ratio down to 1.08, close to relative parity. The absolute gender gap in total weekly hours worked, however, remains around four hours among parents where both are in full-time employment.

Using pooled 2023–2025 time-use data and GEPI’s definitions of childcare and housework, we replicate the finding that full-time working mothers, including single parents, spend about 1.6 times as much time on childcare and household work compared to full-time working fathers, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1

These full-time working parents could be in any number of family situations. They may have a partner who is working part-time or out of the labor market altogether, or they might be single parents raising children alone. The 1.6 ratio is therefore a good broad measure, but it does not tell us much about the distribution of working hours within particular couples. (Notably, as GEPI reports, the gender gap in weekly hours spent on housework is just as large among single adults without children). We therefore restrict our analysis to full-time working parents whose spouse/partner is also working full-time. This reduces the ratio slightly to 1.5, as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2

In its definition of housework, GEPI includes general housework (like cleaning and laundry), food and drink preparation, as well as grocery shopping. This excludes some household activities that are more commonly done by fathers. We therefore expand the definition of household work to include:

• Interior maintenance/repair/decoration,
• Exterior maintenance/repair/decoration,
• Working on and maintaining lawn, garden, and houseplants,
• Working on and maintaining vehicles, and
• Working on and maintaining appliances, tools, and toys

Under this expanded definition, the ratio of hours spent on unpaid work between full-time working mothers and fathers drops to 1.4, as seen in figure 3.

Figure 3

GEPI’s analysis uses a standard definition of full-time employment of 35 hours or more a week. For the purposes of time-use comparisons, it is useful to consider the actual hours worked rather than just a floor. On average, fathers in couples where both work full-time work about two more hours per week (38.8 hours versus 37.3 hours). Combining unpaid and paid work, full-time working mothers in couples spend around 1.08 times as many hours working as full-time working fathers, as shown in figure 4.

There nonetheless remains an absolute gap of 4.4 hours among full-time employed mothers and fathers in couples, with fathers spending about two hours more on paid work but mothers spending about three hours more than fathers on childcare, and three hours more on housework.

Figure 4