Seoul women spend nearly four times more hours on housework than men: report

Housework (Yonhap)

Women in Seoul spend nearly four times more hours on housework than men, a city government report showed Tuesday.

According to the 2020 Seoul gender statistics report, girls and women aged 15 or older spent 2 hours and 26 minutes on household chores every day, which was about 3.6 times longer than men's 41 minutes.

The report was based on 2019 data from Statistics Korea and the city government's own research.

Women's labor force participation rate rose to 55.2 percent in 2019, up from 52.5 percent in 2015, the report showed. Meanwhile, the percentage of women whose careers were interrupted fell 1.6 percentage points over the same period to 19 percent.

By hours of work, however, the percentage of women working less than 36 hours a week increased from 21.2 percent to 26.6 percent, indicating they likely worked part-time or temporary jobs.

By contrast, only 9.9 percent of men in the city worked less than 36 hours a week, according to the report.

Women's average hourly income was 15,037 won ($13.63), which was around 5,000 won less than men's 20,682 won. (Yonhap)