Women 'still doing the lion's share of housework'

Melbourne, May 12 : With most women opting to work when the kids come along, a new survey has found that the fairer sex still spends twice the amount of hours on domestic duties as fathers.

The survey was conducted by Australian Bureau Statistics which found that 60 per cent of mothers are employed.

Out of these, 60 per cent are in part-time work and these women spend an average of 19 hours a week working, 19 hours caring for children and 23 hours on domestic chores.

Even those women who work full time spend, according to the survey, and average of 18 hours per week on household chores - a figure that's twice as much as that of their male partners.

The poll also found that nearly two-thirds of parents with children under 15 are "always" or "often" pressed for time.

Families Australia chief executive Brian Babington said the statistics showed the difficulties in balancing work and family life.

"It's increasingly clear that Australian families are under pressure to balance work and family life. We welcome developments such as the inquiry into paid maternity leave as a way of addressing some of these imbalances, particularly for women who are still doing the lion's share of housework," News.com.au quoted him, as saying.

"But these figures do demonstrate, yet again, that more fundamental solutions need to be found," he added.

ANI