Who does the housework?

Gender inequality in household chores remains a global issue, with UN Women data indicating that women spend three hours more per day on unpaid domestic work than men. In traditional societies like the Indonesian island of Rote, women manage nearly all domestic tasks despite also contributing to agricultural labor, a rigid division of labor often dismissed as "women's work." However, this imbalance persists in wealthy nations as well. In Croatia, initiatives like the Super Dads project encourage men to pull their weight by sharing chores, which allows women to take a breather and pursue careers or rest. Research suggests that more equitable distributions of labor lead to happier households. Despite the serious nature of the domestic workload, personal preferences vary; for instance, a UK survey identifies window cleaning as the most hated household task, surpassing even oven cleaning and toilet scrubbing.