How much time to men spend in childcare?

From time to time figures in the order of 10 minutes per day are mentioned. While this sounds very low and suggests that women do far more than men, it is probably due to the nature od the data. The following figures are taken from table 157 "Housework and Child Care: Selected Countries" in Schmittenroth L. (ed.) (1991) Statistical record of Women Worldwide, London: Gale Research.

Childcare by employed women and employed men, minutes per working day:

........Country.................................women.................men

• Belgium......................................14.......................6
• Bulgaria.......................................21....................13
• Czechoslovakia...........................30....................18
• France.........................................24.......................8
• Germany, Federal Republic........26.......................7
• Germany, Democratic republic...33.....................15
• Hungary.......................................26.....................17
• Poland..........................................27.....................20
• United States...............................17.......................8
• USSR...........................................30.....................30
• Yugoslavia....................................25.....................13

Most of these data refer to the 1970s.

Note that, when these data are mentioned for men, they should not be compared with an assumed input by women of several hours per day.

Stuart Birks

2 February, 1996