Introduction
Doing household chores is undoubtedly an essential aspect of every person’s lifestyle. Even though different families may have different approaches to the distribution of household responsibilities, it is possible to identify general trends that affect the vast majority of the population. Traditional gender roles significantly impact the distribution of household chores in married couples and even the way of life of single people. The culture of equality has flattened the picture significantly in recent times, but statistics indicate that tangible differences still exist today.
Discussion
Childcare is the most revealing among gender-asymmetric household chores. Historically, this occupation is perceived as more “feminine”, which often causes the problem of insufficient attention to children from their fathers. Women in Estonia devote one and a half times more time to childcare than men. However, it is more about average values, this difference is not critical and tends to decrease. Other gender stereotypes that try to define the role of women include cooking and cleaning. The data indicate that despite the smaller absolute values, the skew here is precisely the same as for childcare. At the same time, gender stereotypes define repair and construction as “male occupations”, which is why men devote one and a half times more hours to them than women. Despite the fact that these gender differences are not significant, men in general spend slightly less time on household chores.
Conclusion
There are gender differences in the distribution of household chores in Estonia. The reason for this asymmetry is the traditional idea about gender roles: cleaning, cooking, and childcare are seen as “women’s” jobs, while construction and renovations are seen as “men’s.” The differences are not critical and tend to decrease, which indicates a high level of development of a culture of equality.