Report Finds Women Work More For Free

A new report from Oxfam found women working two hours more than men when it comes to cooking, cleaning and doing other unpaid work. In total women worked 95, eight-hour days for free in a year’s time. 

Oxfam America’s Vice President of policy and advocacy Paul O’Brien said in a statement, “Women and girls, who spend billions of hours cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly are the backbone of our global economy, yet benefit the least from it.”

If American women were paid for all of the hours they work for free, they would make $1.48 trillion a year. Internationally, women’s work would be valued at $10.8 trillion. 

The Realist Woman’s take:

Women have always worked and it’s always been valuable. But women’s work hasn’t always been considered work or having had any value. The majority of women work outside the home making a paycheck but there’s still plenty of work to be done once they get home 

Women raising their families and the maintenance it takes to keep up a home is one of the most valuable things anyone could ever do or contribute to this world. What women do is valuable. We work twice as hard inside and outside of our homes. I’m glad this report recognizes that. 

So while these findings may not be news to me, I’m shocked at the amount of money women would earn if they were paid for all of the free work they do. It’s astounding.