Every society relies on unpaid labour to function, whether it’s cooking, cleaning or caring for children, all of these things must be done and they must be done by someone.
Unfortunately for women all over the world, it’s usually them.
According to Melinda Gates it’s “the gender gap no one is talking about” and it needs to be redressed, urgently.
“Unpaid work is what it says it is: It’s work, not play, and you don’t get any money for doing it. But every society needs it to function,” Gates writes in her half of the annual letter from herself and husband Bill.
In the Gates’ household there’s a rule: “Nobody leaves the kitchen until Mom leaves the kitchen.”
When she first introduced it, suffice to say, it wasn’t immediately popular, but Melinda was tired of doing the chores, simply because she was matriarch and her husband and three children quickly adjusted.
gatesnotes“It’s not just about fairness; assigning most unpaid work to women harms everyone: men, women, boys, and girls,” Gates writes.
“Globally, women spend an average of 4.5 hours a day on unpaid work. Men spend less than half that much time.”
She adds that the burden of unpaid work is far greater for women in the developing world.
In India, for example, women spend about six hours while men spend less than one.
“I know from listening to my kids and their friends — and from looking at polling data about how teenagers see the future — that most girls don’t think they will be stuck with the same rules that kept their grandmothers in the home. And most boys agree with them.
“I’m sorry to say this, but if you think that, you’re wrong. Unless things change, girls today will spend hundreds of thousands more hours than boys doing unpaid work simply because society assumes it’s their responsibility.”
Melinda Gates on relieving the burden of “time poverty”.
The result is a worldwide “opportunity cost”, Gates explains, as women miss out because they’re stuck managing the domestic sphere:
“What amazing goals would you accomplish with an extra hour every day? Or, in the case of girls in many poor countries, an extra five or more?”
Girls might use the time to do their homework, their mothers might go to the doctor, she speculates, “some women might simply read a book or take a walk or visit a friend.
“Everybody’s better off when more of us are fulfilled in our daily lives.”
You can read the letter in full here.
Top Comments
Are they're seriously that many households in the western world where both work and yet the man does nothing around the house?
I struggle to believe there is as many out there as this article suggests.
It's not a case of nothing vs something. It's about unequal contribution timewise to the household overall, taking into account paid work.
It's like this at my house and every other person I know. The men may do some things, but the overwhelming majority of day to day upkeep of the house and kids is done by the women.
So it's more to do with energy expenditure? An hour of clearing gutters is more valuable than an hour of making beds and folding washing because it's more physically arduous and contains an element of risk?
Mow lawn once a week in summer once a month in winter. Fixing car and home repairs once in a blue moon.
Cleaning, cooking, shopping every day, repeatedly, ad nauseum. Any wonder fewer young women want to marry and take on this sisyphian mind numbling work? Also the reason why most divorced men remarry quickly (they miss not having a slave on tap) but few women go rushing back to he mill stone.
Many men undervalue women's contribution in the home, yet they don't like to do this tedious work themselves - as witnessed by the living conditions of most bachelors.
Pull the other one, Melinda. No way do you do the heavy cleaning in your household!