The latest Princeton Affect and Time Survey has shown that women are at least 90 minutes a week “unhappier” than men. Alan Krueger, a Princeton economist says that there is a simple explanation for the difference (Source: NYT):
Mr. Krueger, analyzing time-use studies over the last four decades, has found an even starker pattern. Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more.
Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work — and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes.
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Although women have flooded into the work force, American society hasn’t fully come to grips with the change. The United States still doesn’t have universal preschool, and, in contrast to other industrialized countries, there is no guaranteed paid leave for new parents.
Government policy isn’t the only problem, either. Inside of families, men still haven’t figured out how to shoulder their fair share of the household burden. Instead, we’re spending more time on the phone and in front of the television.
I have to say that as a single woman with a full-time job, I barely find time to take care of myself, much less I could find time to take care of a family if I would have one. That fact would remain even during the summer when I’m not going to school part-time. I know there are a lot of women who are forced to work, because they are either single mothers or cannot support a family on one income, but for a woman to divide her time between work and family, something is going to suffer at the end–either poor performance at work or at home.
Radical Catholic Mom has written excellent posts on working mothers and Church teaching for more background on this question. I have previously written another post that deals with the issue of working moms preferring part-time jobs rather than full-time jobs.
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