In terms of the time spent conducting housework, it will include time for household activities such as cleaning, laundry, food and drink prepartion, etc. and caring for household members, for instance teaching/playing with children and looking after children or the elder members of the family. The data collected show that in category of caring for household members, almost all time are used to caring and helping their children (92.6 percent of female group and 80 percent of male group) and only 10 – 20 percent is spent for caring adult members.
The survey results show that the total amount of time females spent conducting housework was considerably higher than males. On average, the time that women spent conducting housework is double the amount of the time spent by men, respectively 271 minutes and 103 minutes per day. The difference in average time spending on housework between women and men is statistically significant (see Annex 2 for further details). In comparison with OECD data (Table 2.1), Vietnamese men are lazy in regards to completing housework, averaging only 103 minutes per day, around 30 minutes les than averange amount of time spent in OECD countries (136 min/day). However, that men’s time for housework is the highest among Asian countries. Meanwhile, the averange time women in Viet Nam spend doing housework is higher than the average OECD time (264.4 min/day) and only lower than Indian
India have a lower development level than other countries like Japan, Korea and China, and women in those two contries also spend more time conducting unpaid housework (see Figure 5.1). In the following paragraphs, I will go into further detail on the gender gap of time spent doing housework regarding the criteria of marital stautus, education level, age cohort, urban-rural, and income level.
Figure 4.1. Average time spent doing housework by gender and by nations (min) Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data
By marital status
The Figure 5.2 below shows that married women have more housework to complete than single and widowed/divorced women. In constrast, widowed/divorced men have more time to do their housework than single and married men. Those figures may prove that when men are young and live in a family, they do not often do housework that may be taken care of by their mothers or female siblings. After getting married, they will help their wives as evidenced by the amount of time increasing, up to 107 minutes per day. When men are widowed/divorced, they no longer have someone to
264.4 271.46
234
351.9
224.3 215
136
103.2
91
51.8 40.8 49
OECD - AVERAGE
VIETNAM CHINA INDIA JAPAN KOREA
Women Men
show that marital status does not have a significant impact on the time women spend on rountine housework, but it does have a profound impact on the time men spend performing housework (see Annex 2). In other words, there seems to be a correlation between the amount of time men spend on housework and their marital status, but no obvious correlation with women. Those figures reflect the tradition custom and cultural perceptions that girls are expected to take on additional care and household tasks.
Female Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Male Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Figure 4.2. Time spending on doing housework by gender and marital status (min)
Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data By age cohorts
The data demonstrates that young women who are at childbearing age have to spend more time on housework much more than older women. On average, women between the ages of 18 – 39 spend 350 minutes conducting unpaid domestic work per day; of them, 227 minutes is spent caring for household members and 123 minutes for activities such as cooking, laundry, cleaning and so on. Those figures are five times
120.33
31.90
181.42
61.74
189.52
120.37 75.67
12.61
97.16
45.45
46.13
17.78
FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE
SINGLE MARRIED WIDOW
more than the male respondents of the same age range the same age range. When women are older, they increase the amount of time spent on housework while decrease time spent on caring for members of the household. Meanwhile, in comparison with younger men, the older ones appear to spend more time with family as their time spent doing housekeeping increase. The data results reveal that Generation Y who were born and grew up in the integration and technological era, still retain or suffer the burden of traditional gender stereotypes that emphasise women’s role in housekeeping.
Female Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Male Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Figure 4.3. Time spending on doing housework by gender and marital status (min) Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data
By education level
Figure 5.4 illustrates that regardless of educational qualification, women still do more housework than men. Data shows that the education level has a mixed impact on the time spent doing housework for both genders. For the womens group, primary school and upper secondary school education are even associated with more housework.
Women with an education level higher than upper secondary school spend less time
68.56
189.98 25.46
123.27
42.54
67.73 38.14
226.73
MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE
OLD GENERATIONYOUNG GENERATION
doing housework. Conversley men with the same educational attainment spent more time helping with housework. T-test results shows that there are significant differences between male and female groups (see Annex 2). However, within the female group, the difference is only statistically meaningful between women with lower secondary school and upper secondary school. Additionally, women with a higher education level spend more time on child care than women with a lower level of education.
Female Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Male Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Figure 4.4. Time spending on doing housework by gender and education level (min)
Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data By income
The data shows that there is a correlation between the amount of time spent on household tasks and income level. Generally, the more money people earn, the less
184.88
61.86
189.57
65.44
174.02
62.77
186.09
60.74
140.83
49.13 75.15
34.88
101.97
51.34
71.26
44.77
130.82
15.74
106.46
57.09
FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE
NO EDUCATION OR HAVE NOT COMPLETED PRIM
PRIMARY SCHOOL LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL
UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL/
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY
statistically significant difference between the amount of time spent on rountine housework between the lowest income group and the highest income groups. In particular, higher income has a considerable impact on the time women spend on housekeeping, decreasing from 200 minutes to only 150 minutes per day, and the time women spend on caring for members of the household household, from 95 minutes to only 45 minutes per day. It could be explained that as income increases, access to services increases, thus decreasing the time women spend doing housekeeping and care tasks.
Female Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Male Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Figure 4.5. Time spending on doing housework by gender and income groups (min)
Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data Urban – Rural
Regarding geographical location, the previous research stated that geography plays a major role in the distribution of unpaid care work. Rural areas typically have poor infrastructures and services which forces people to spend more time doing tasks like water colleting (Action Aid Vietnam, 2017). However, in this survey, the locality does not seem to be an influential factor affecting the amount of time for rountine housework tasks for both men and women (see Figure 5.6). Accordingly, there is no significant difference in total amount of time that both men and women spend doing
202.418
153.382 155 152.237
94.853 110.588
43.158 46.974
79.463
48.879
24.717
45.277 46.448
34.485 40.189 43.185
BELOW VND 5 MILLION VND 5 MILLION-BELOW VND 10 MILLION
VND 10 MILLION-BELOW VND 15 MILLION
FROM VND 15 MILLION
housework in the rural and urban area. However, women in rural areas are recorded to spend more time caring for and helping household members than women in the urban area. This might be a result of the more readily available caring services such as babysitters and kindergardens in urban areas, as compared to rural areas.
Female Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Male Average time for household activities
Average time for household members care
Figure 4.6. Time spending on doing housework by gender and urban-rural (min)
Note: Retrived from DEPOCEN time-use survey data Conclusion
The time use survey data shows that gender and marital status have a significant impact on the time people spend on domestic and care activities. Accordingly, women are found to spend more time on unpaid domestic tasks than men. Additionally that amount of time appears to increase for both genders after they are married. On the other hand, education level and geographical location are not found to have a significant impact on the women’s amount of time amount spent on housekeeping
163.461
64.829
189.881
58.103 114.554
42.819
77.694
40.724
FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE
RURAL URBAN
for and helping their children. And due to available childcare services in urban areas, women are likely to spend less time taking care of their children than women in rural areas. Lastly, between the lowest income and highest income groups, there seems to be a correlation between the amount of time women perform housework, as the more money women earn, the less time they spend conducting household tasks.