Survey: 7 out of 10 women say they are solely responsible for “household chores” even if they also have a day job

Beyond having an active professional life, 70% of women who live with their partner say that they are also responsible for household chores, such as preparing meals, washing dishes, washing and ironing clothes, but also preparing children for various activities, in several cases. For a third of women, “housework” takes up more than 4 hours, the equivalent of a part-time job. We are entering the month dedicated to women, and BestJobs, one of the leading online recruitment platforms, celebrates them for all their roles, both at work and at home.

In addition to the official job, women also have roles such as the family accountant, being responsible for the household budget (over 63%), the house cook (59%) or the organizer of birthday parties (32%), according to a survey conducted by BestJobs. For women who also have children, the roles are even more diversified, they are also mother-teacher or mother-teacher (approximately 32%). They also occasionally become the storyteller for the little ones (25%), the family driver (22%), responsible for home repairs (over 19%) or the family tech woman (17%). If they were remunerated, “domestic jobs” would be worth at least the equivalent of the salary from the official job, believe 60% of the survey respondents, while 40% say they cannot estimate this monetary involvement.

In mixed households, responsibilities are often divided by gender. Thus, women end up occupying a larger part of their free time with household chores, which fall under their responsibility and consume the most time. Even though men also take on roles such as the person responsible for repairs of any kind in the home (78%), the family driver (56%), the family accountant (39%) and father-teacher or father-teacher (39%), 44% of male respondents stated that the wife or partner does most of the household chores, while 37% believe that responsibilities are shared equally. Among men who take care of the maintenance of the home and family, almost 83% allocate an average of one to three hours daily to these tasks, and only 17% exceed this time.

“We continue to see that women tend to have more responsibilities than their partners when it comes to household chores, which means less time for their own passions or hobbies. However, we have many examples around us of women who successfully combine professional and domestic roles. Every woman deserves recognition for all the jobs she does every day. Thus, BestJobs is launching a manifesto campaign celebrating women who manage to set the world in motion at the office, but also at home,” says Ana Vișian, BestJobs Marketing Manager.

The survey was conducted in February 2023, on 2,376 net users in Romania, 57% females and 43% males.