study
Women do significantly more unpaid work than men
A mother participates in a video conference while folding laundry in the child’s room. photo
© Annette Riedl/dpa
How much time do people in Germany spend with work, family and leisure time? A study by the Federal Statistical Office provides answers.
The basis is a study from 2022 that examines how people divide their time. Unpaid work refers, for example, to household management, childcare, caring for relatives and social engagement as well as supporting people outside the household.
The division of roles has hardly changed
Overall, women spend an average of almost 45.5 hours per week working, of which almost 30 hours are unpaid. The situation is different for men: they spend almost 21 hours, less than half of their 44-hour week on unpaid work. “This division of roles, in which mothers primarily take care of the household and the children and fathers are the main workers, has hardly changed over time,” explained Brand. The study was last carried out in 2012/2013.
Almost half of women’s unpaid work consists of traditional housework such as cooking, cleaning and washing laundry. According to the results, women invest almost twice as much time as men in childcare. Mothers would like to be more involved in paid work: one in four working mothers said that they would like to have more time for their work. In contrast, one in four fathers would prefer to spend less time working and instead focus on other things.
Expansion of child day care
Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) criticized the unequal distribution of care work: “For women this usually means: a lower salary, fewer professional opportunities and precarious pension provision.” It is important that women stand on their own feet economically. But this can only be achieved if women and men take on unpaid care work together. “We are therefore continuing to invest in the expansion and quality of child day care,” said Paus.
The Federal Statistical Office records how people in Germany spend their time every ten years. In the 2022 survey, around 10,000 households with 20,000 people aged 10 and over were asked on a voluntary basis on three specified days (including two weekdays and one day on the weekend) to record their time spent in 10-minute increments in a time diary or in a time diary Capture the app.