The accompanying table and bar chart compare the distribution of male and female domestic activities, except for paid work, in the UK in 2008.
Overall, men accounted for a largest share of almost all leisure activities, except for reading. By contrast, women spent more time on household activities, with the exception of repair work.
Focusing on leisure activities first, men devoted significantly more time to watching TV, videos and listening to the radio than women, at 137 minutes per day compared with 118 minutes. In addition, men spent four more minutes watching sport than women at 15 minutes per day, compared with 11 minutes for women. However, women devoted slightly more time to reading and the difference was small.
Focusing on the bar chart, women spent more time on almost all domestic activities. Women devoted far more time to cooking and washing than men, at about 75 minutes per day, compared with around 30 minutes for men. Similarly, women spent around 10 more minutes shopping than men. Additionally, women also recorded a higher figure in clothes washing and ironing, at nearly 30 minutes a day, while men’s figure stood at 10 minutes. The only exception was repair work, in which men spent nearly 20 minutes per day, about twice as much as women.