Women do more work around the house than men, report finds

May 17, 2021

It’s costing New Zealand’s economy $1.5 billion a year in lost productivity.

Women really do more work than men around the house, a report out today confirms. 

The Deloitte report, commissioned by Westpac, found of the more than 2000 people surveyed in October last year, just 10 per cent of working couples split the load 50:50. 

Women surveyed said they did 69 per cent of the house work and just 34 per cent paid work. 

However, the men said they wanted to spend less time working and pick up more of the load around the house. 

The report found all of this time women are spending doing the chores costs the economy $1.5 billion in lost productivity per year.

David McLean, Westpac's chief executive, said this also contributes to the gender pay gap. 

"We were shocked two years ago when we found out it was 31 per cent. We're determined to eliminate that and we've taken a number of steps in the meantime and taken it down to 28 per cent."

Some recommendations include more flexible work, making childcare cheaper and improving parental leave. 

"We need to keep working on that and have a bit more of a fundamental look at are the policy settings around parental leave driving the right incentives," McLean said. 

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