A young woman entering the job market today will spend four more years doing work than her male peers.
Four years? Four years! Four. Years.
That's the worldwide average, anyway, and the takeaway from a new report from ActionAid, an international nonprofit. Researchers analyzed the total amount of time people spend doing paid work—the stuff you do at your job for money—and unpaid work—cooking, cleaning, childcare, chores. They found that when you add it all up, women do so much more unpaid work—on top of their jobs—that they spend an extra month working every year they're alive.
Ugh.
Here's the thing, though: This is bad for women in the United States, but it's especially bad for women in developing countries. In the U.S., for instance, there's definitely a gap, but it's not as severe as the world average: According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, women in the U.S. spend around four hours doing unpaid work every day, compared to around two and a half hours for men. (So, next time you're arguing about the dishes with your significant other, you have data on your side.)
But developing countries often lack the infrastructure, technology, and public services that we take for granted, meaning that there's a lot more unpaid work for women to do. In some rural areas, people have to spend hours traveling to gather water or washing their clothing by hand—and usually, those jobs go to girls and women.
For many women, this isn't just an inconvenience, it keeps them from entering the job market, perpetuating a system in which most household wealth—and therefore power—is held by men. Experts argue that to promote gender equality around the world, we need to recognize the value of unpaid work, encourage men to do more of it so women can do less, and help women enter the paid labor market.
Of course, once they get there, there's still the wage gap to contend with. Baby steps.