Working women doing 30% more housework than men and 50% more unpaid care

interactive investor calculations are based on new ONS data.

Interactive investor calculations, based on ONS data out today show working women spend 30% more time on unpaid household work than men and 50% more time on unpaid care, while economically inactive women do around three times as much unpaid care as men on average, and spend 14% more time on household chores. The data is based on people aged 18 to 64 and the survey was conducted in March 2023.

• Invest with ii: Open a Low Cost SIPP | What is a SIPP | Interactive investor Offers

Time spent caring for household each week

Interactive investor calculations: based on ONS data

Caring and household responsibilities mean that women on average earn less than men, and this results in lower levels of wealth while working and in retirement. Women on average have 35% less in their pension by the time they reach their mid-50s.

This data also highlights the challenge ahead for policymakers trying to encourage women to increase their hours or to go back into the workplace as women often spend more time than man caring for their family.

On April 2023, ONS data revealed that while the rate of economically inactive had slightly reduced for men, dropping from 17.7% in April 2022 to 17% in April 2023, the rate for women remained static at 24.9%.

Other time spent

Alice Guy,Head of Pensions and Savings at interactive investor, says: “In many households, women are still doing the bulk of household work and often also carry the mental load of looking after their families, responsible for food shopping, meal planning, buying clothes for the kids and sorting out childcare.

“These figures are based on an average and the reality is that some women are spending a huge amount of time caring for loved ones, and often struggling on a low income. The carers allowance is currently only £76.75 a week and only available if you care for someone disabled for at least 35 hours each week.

“For women, doing more chores means that they’re often less able to work full time, instead spending more time on housework and caring for elderly relatively or children. This inequality means women often find it harder to build wealth. And it is having a knock-on impact well into retirement with the average women in the private sector having 35% less pension wealth than men by the time they reach their mid-50s.

“The one silver lining is that there are signs of a slight improvement. Men now do more housework on average than this time last year. The average hours per week spent on household across all men has increased from 14 hours in March 2022 to 16 hours in March 2023.

“With women working fewer hours and earning less over their working life, it’s especially important for women to keep an eye on their pension and pay in what they can afford. As well as earning less during their working life, women are more likely to be poor in retirement, especially if they are on their own. Single female pensioners on average have about 18% lower pension income in retirement than men.”