Subject: Re: Quick opinion survey
From: Daniel Hamermesh (hamermes@eco.utexas.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 17 2006 - 15:43:57 EDT
In August many of you were kind enough to respond to a survey I sent out
(see below). The survey was also sent to another NBER group, to a
worldwide network of labor economists, to members/Ph.D. students in a
sociology department, and to a group of students taking an introductory
microeconomics principles class.
The truth about the fact about which we inquired--the difference in total
work--market and household--between men and women in the U.S. is that they
are essentially equal. Indeed, in 2003 the difference was 4 minutes per
day. Moreover, as the figure showing this relationship for 21 countries
in the attachment shows, that is true in most rich countries. The fact
was shown for a smaller sample of countries in a UN report in the
mid-1990s, and was reiterated in two books by sociologists.
Despite this fact, which we call the iso-work phenomenon, none of the
groups surveyed seemed on average to know this, as the second page of the
attachment shows. The average respondent indicated that men worked about
5 percent less in total than women.
Michael Burda, Philippe Weil and I are drafting a paper analyzing this
phenomenon, "TOTAL WORK, GENDER AND SOCIAL NORMS," and will be happy to
send you a copy of it in the near future.
Again, thanks for participating.
Dan Hamermesh
Daniel S. Hamermesh
Centennial Professor of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1173 USA
Tel: 512 475-8526
Fax: 512 471-3510
Homepage: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Hamermesh/
On Thu, 3 Aug 2006, Daniel Hamermesh wrote:
> Dear NBER Colleague:
>
> I wonder if you would respond to a quick opinion poll I'm doing by
> answering the question below and returning the email to me? The question
> is very simple:
>
> We know that American men (ages 20-75) on average work more in the market
> than do American women. But what is the difference between men's TOTAL
> WORK (in the market and on anything that you might view as work at home)
> and that of women?
>
> Without consulting any books, articles or raw data, PLEASE PUT AN X NEXT
> TO THE LINE BELOW THAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE CLOSEST APPROXIMATION TO THE
> CURRENT SITUATION IN THE US.
>
> Men work 25% less than women in total.
> Men work 15% less than women in total.
> Men work 10% less than women in total.
> Men work 5% less than women in total.
> Men and women differ by less than 2.5% in total work.
> Men work 5% more than women in total.
> Men work 10% more than women in total.
> Men work 15% more than women in total.
> Men work 25% more than women in total.
>
> Many thanks for your help. Of course, all answers will remain anonymous.
>
> Dan Hamermesh
>
>
> Daniel S. Hamermesh
> Centennial Professor of Economics
> University of Texas at Austin
> Austin, TX 78712-1173 USA
>
> Tel: 512 475-8526
> Fax: 512 471-3510
>
> Homepage: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Hamermesh/
>
>
>
>
