Investigating the Impact of Gender, Age, and Parenthood on Household Chores: A Study of Delhi NCR
Abstract
This study investigates gender disparities in household work and examines how age and parenthood influence the time spent on domestic chores. Using a quantitative approach with convenience sampling, data were collected from 66 respondents through a structured online survey. The results reveal significant gender differences in household chore distribution, with women consistently spending more time than men, especially on cleaning, washing, and laundry. Age also plays a significant role; individuals above 26 years reported notably more involvement in housework compared to younger individuals. Furthermore, having children was strongly associated with increased hours spent on domestic tasks, particularly childcare and eldercare. These findings highlight the persistence of gendered divisions of labor and the compounding impact of age and family structure on unpaid household responsibilities. The study contributes to ongoing discourse on gender roles, domestic labor, and the invisible load disproportionately carried by women in households.
References
Admin, V. (2024, August 24). Understanding the difference between domiciliary care and home care. Vitality Home Care. https://www.vitalitycaresupportservices.co.uk/home-care/understanding-the-difference-between-domiciliary-care-and-home-care/.
Gender differences on household chores entrenched from childhood. (n.d.). European Institute for Gender Equality. https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/toolkits-guides/gender-equality-index-2021-report/gender-differences-household-chores?language_content_entity=en.
George, A. S., & Shaji, T. (2024). Unpaid Labor’s Unaccounted Value: Estimating the economic worth of Indian housework .puirp.com. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11650647.
Kavita Bajeli-Datt, & Kavita Bajeli-Datt. (2024, March 24). ‘Indian women do domestic chores 10x than men.’ The New Indian Express. https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2024/Mar/24/indian-women-do-domestic-chores-10x-than-men.
Madgavkar, A., Ellingrud, K., & Krishnan, M. (2016, March 8). The economic benefits of gender parity. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview/in-the-news/the-economic-benefits-of-gender-parity.
M. Krishna (2022). Are Unpaid Women Willing to Work in the Labour Market? Evidence from India. Journal of International Women's Studies, 23(5), 102-119. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol23/iss5/7.
Neuman, N., Gottzén, L., & Fjellström, C. (2016). Masculinity and the sociality of cooking in men’s everyday lives. The Sociological Review, 65(4), 816–831. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954x.12420.
Reddy, A. A., Mittal, S., Roy, N. S., & Kanjilal-Bhaduri, S. (2021). Time Allocation between Paid and Unpaid Work among Men and Women: An Empirical Study of Indian Villages. Sustainability, 13(5), 2671. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052671.
Savoie, L. (2023, October 24). The benefits of eliminating seniors’ household tasks. Regal Home Health Care, Inc. https://www.regalhhcpa.com/the-benefits-of-eliminating-seniors-household-tasks.
Singh, P., & Pattanaik, F. (2020b). Unfolding unpaid domestic work in India: women’s constraints, choices, and career. Palgrave Communications, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0488-2.
Tepper, D. L., Howell, T. J., & Bennett, P. C. (2022). Executive functions and household chores: Does engagement in chores predict children’s cognition? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(5), 585–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12822.
The Benefits of Doing Household Chores. (2025, Apr 13). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-benefits-of-doing-household-chores/.
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Ishikawa, S., Hien, P. T., Orozco, A. P., Chanthavysouk, K., Lan, N. K., Ly, V. P., & Nguyet, T. T. M. (2016). Unpaid care and domestic work: Issues and suggestions for Viet Nam. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20ESEAsia/Docs/Public.
Unpaid care work prevents 708 million women from participating in the labour market. (2024, November 4). International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/unpaid-care-work-prevents-708-million-women-participating-labour-market#:~:text=Globally%2C%20around%201.6%20billion%20women,reason%20for%20their%20non%2Dparticipation.
Vikram, K., Ganguly, D., & Goli, S. (2023). Time use patterns and household adversities: A lens to understand the construction of gender privilege among children and adolescents in India. Social Science Research, 118, 102970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102970.
Werner, M., Vosko, L. F., Deveau, A., Pimentel, G., & Walsh, D. (n.d.). Conceptual Guide to the Unpaid Work Module. Gender & Work Database. https://www.genderwork.ca/gwd/modules/unpaid-work/#:~:text=Unpaid%20work%20refers%20to%20the,certain%20activity%20(OECD%202011).
Copyright (c) 2025 Aarshia Pruthi

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).