Unpaid work

Every day, each of us spends some time working, whether paid or not. Paid work can be measured relatively easily, but the myriad of unpaid tasks we perform are equally valuable, if not priceless.

Women tend to do more unpaid work than men, most of it around the house. In 2001, about 21% of women aged 15 and over devoted 30 hours or more to unpaid household work a week, compared with 8% for men. Only 7.5% of women reported that they did not devote any hours to household unpaid work, compared with 13.3% of men.

In total, 38% of the population allocated some hours to child care a week in 2001. About 16% of women aged 15 and over devoted 30 hours or more on child care, more than twice the proportion among men (7%). About 21% of men allocated some time but fewer than 15 hours to child care, compared with 18% of women.