Michael Stretton, III, Rosa Ferreum (鐵瑰) Profile picture
A discursive E.D.P.N.A. Social Security disability benefits (paralegal) advocate, information designer, bibliothecal researcher, tutor, and tea traveler (茶旅人).

Nov 15, 2022, 26 tweets

@roberttheotter You are clearly ignorant regarding the #GenderedLaborGap.

@roberttheotter If you add up both the unpaid labor and paid labor, on average, men work more total time than women creating a #GenderedLaborGap pursuant to (as an example) the @BLS_gov's 2017 American Time Use Survey (bls.gov/news.release/a…) and @pewresearch's data (pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018…).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch American Time Use Survey (with 2017 as an example) shows that women on average are not spending enough more time with their kids, doing chores, or anything else to explain women's lack of time working.

On average, men just work more in America (considering both paid and unpaid).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Let's do the math:

Table 8A, column 1: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.31 2.34
Caring for household: 1.01 1.85
Work-related activities: 5.46 3.37
==========
Total: 7.78 7.56

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Now comparing the men from Table 8B to the women from Table 8C (where the youngest child is under 6):

Women care for and help household members 2.08 more hours per day than men in the most extreme case presented by Table 8A, but men work 6.43 hours more per day than women.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Similarly, comparing the men from Table 8B to the women from Table 8C (where the youngest child is under 6), women do household activities for 1.91 more hours per day than men in the most extreme case presented by Table 8A, but, again, men work 6.43 hours more per day than women.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Let's do the math: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.26 3.17
Caring for household: 1.42 3.36
Work-related activities: 6.57 0.00
==========
Total: 9.25 6.53

Who is working more?

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch By comparing the men from Table 8B to the women from Table 8C (using the youngest child under 6 column), we see the situation where women are unemployed and spending the most time caring not only for the children but the whole family.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Other @BLS_gov data (see below) indicates that 61% of families have both parents employed (bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/…), but does not indicate whether the mothers are working full-time or part-time.

The American Time Use Survey does have an answer in Table 8B.

Let's check that out.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Let's do the math:

Table 8B, column 1: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.23 1.90
Caring for household: 0.93 1.52
Work-related activities: 6.35 5.01
===========
Total: 8.51 8.43

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Maybe women are forced to stay home with their kids and that causes the gap. If true, women with no kids should be working the same amount as men in the workforce as there is no reason not to since there is no reason to be on call and no extra household or childcare duties.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Let's do that math:

Table 8A, column 4: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.54 2.21
Caring for household: 0.07 0.07
Work-related activities: 4.11 2.83
===========
Total: 5.72 5.11

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Consider just workers:

Table 8B, column 4: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.34 1.80
Caring for household: 0.04 0.05
Work-related activities: 6.17 5.29
===========
Total: 7.55 7.14

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Whether you consider all currently childless folks (Table 8A) or just the ones working (Table 8B), women spend less time on paid labor and related activities and women spend less time working considering both unpaid domestic labor and paid labor added together. The pattern holds.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Moreover, homemaking is not usually physically demanding work (unlike the paid labor many men do that women typically do not).

See, Women Workers and Women at Home Are Equally Inactive: NHANES 2003–2006 (available at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch "Women spent most of their day in sedentary (~55%) and light (~32%) activity, with limited lifestyle (~11%) and moderate vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (~2%), and there were no differences between the homemakers and [employed women]" (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch "A recent study conducted by the PEW Research Center found that stay-at-home mothers reported spending more time on childcare, housework, leisure activities, and sleep more than working mothers" (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch The Social Security Administration doesn't generally consider "household tasks" and "self-care" to be substantial gainful activity (even where one is getting in-kind payment like living rent-free). Social Security Ruling 83-33; POMS § DI 10501.001; 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1572, 416.972.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Arguably, "household tasks" and "self-care" don't involve "doing significant physical or mental activities." See, SSR 83-33 (ssa.gov/OP_Home/ruling…); POMS §DI 10501.001 (secure.ssa.gov/poms.NSF/lnx/0…); 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1572 (ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/…), 416.972 (ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/…).

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Table 8A of the @BLS_gov’s 2019 American Time Use Survey (bls.gov/news.release/a…) demonstrates that this #GenderedLaborGap continues to be a problem. It is not just something that existed as a freak accident of statistics in 2017.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch 2019:
Table 8A, column 1: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.28 2.33
Caring for household: 0.95 1.80
Work-related activities: 5.72 3.35
==========
Total: 7.95 7.48

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Again, the first Table 8 of the @BLS_gov’s 2012 American Time Use Survey (bls.gov/news.release/a…) demonstrates that the #GenderedLaborGap is not just something that existed as a freak accident of statistics in either 2017 or 2019.

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Let's do that math:

1st Table 8, column 1: Men: Women:
Household activities: 1.11 2.28
Caring for household: 1.51 2.54
Work-related activities: 5.33 3.04
============
Total: 7.95 7.86

@roberttheotter @BLS_gov @pewresearch Robert the Otter (@roberttheotter), your argument for significant "#mentalload" is based upon anecdote and doesn't take into account the data that repeatedly demonstrates men work more hours than women (even when considering both paid work and unpaid domestic duties). Do better!

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