Thread by @MSS3RosaFerreum

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi Did someone call for data?

Sorry, I was delayed by work. I had many hearings this week and many briefs to write. Apologies.

The article by Payman Taei cited by Lav (@LavAgarwal95) understates the problem.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi 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…).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch According to the @BLS_gov, "[o]n the days they worked, employed men worked 49 minutes more than employed women. … However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked more per day than women—8.4 hours, compared with 7.9 hours."

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch Pursuant to @BLS_gov data in the American Time Use Survey, the average man is getting the equivalent of over 26½ (8-hour) days of experience more than the average woman is getting on the job (bls.gov/news.release/a…, p. 2).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch Dividing the total hours worked into 8-hour workdays, using the @BLS_gov data from the American Time Use Survey, it's as if men (on average) are working nearly 13 months a year to women's less than 12 months per year (bls.gov/news.release/a…, p. 2).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch Now, looking only at full-time workers, pursuant to @BLS_gov data in the American Time Use Survey, the average man is getting the equivalent of over 16 (8-hour) days of experience more than the average woman is getting on the job (bls.gov/news.release/a…, p. 2).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch Dividing the total hours worked into 8-hour workdays, using the @BLS_gov data from the American Time Use Survey, it's almost as if men (on average) are working nearly 12½ months a year to women's less than 12 (bls.gov/news.release/a…, p. 2).

Albeit slower, this adds up fast.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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 doing more?

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch If women with kids are working fewer paid work hours due to the number of hours spent on childcare responsibilities, we should've seen women performing as many domestic labor hours as men were spending doing paid labor, but that isn't what we see.

We only see women working less.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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 child care duties.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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.

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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…).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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…).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch "Based on self-report, previous studies suggest that homemakers obtain less total physical activity, have lower overall activity-related energy expenditure, and are less likely to participate in vigorous leisure-time physical activity, than [employed women]" (Id.).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @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…).

@LavAgarwal95 @General_Oluchi @BLS_gov @pewresearch @threadreaderapp, please unroll.