Six in ten women say they do all or most of the chores in their home

Jamie BallardData Journalist
March 18, 2021, 2:30 PM GMT+0

When it comes to spring cleaning and chores in general, women believe they are taking on the lion’s share of the duties.

Among those Americans who do not live alone, women (20%) are twice as likely as men (10%) to say they do all of the household chores. Another 40% of women – and just 16% of men – say they do “most” of the chores in the home.

These results suggest that many men and women may not see eye-to-eye about who takes on the bulk of the household duties. While one in five women (20%) see themselves as doing all the chores, with no help from others, only 3% of men believe that someone else in the household is doing all the labor.

It may be that men see their household contributions as more significant than women do – they may believe that they’re doing “about half” the chores (39%) or “helping” (29%), but the women they live with may not agree with that assessment.

Among women who live with a partner, 69% say they do all or most of the chores in their home. Among men who live with a partner, 25% say they do all or most of the cleaning.

As children are added to the equation, things don’t seem to change much. Among women whose household includes a partner and a child or children, 70% say they take on all or most of the housework. Men who are fathers and have a partner are less likely (27%) to say the same.

See full results here.

Related: COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly negative impact on mothers’ mental health

Methodology: YouGov polled 1,775 US adults, including 1,385 who will be spring cleaning. The survey was conducted on Wednesday, March 10 between 12:10 pm and 12:24 pm Eastern Standard Time. Data is weighted on age, gender, education level, race, and political affiliation to be nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is approximately 3.2% for the overall sample.