Men and Women Work the Same Total Hours (There is no 'Second Shift')

This is a finding reported in the excellent new book, The XX Factor, by leading British economic researcher Alison Wolf.

She says of all that she reports in this book, this fact is the one she expects readers to have the hardest time believing.  The belief that men and women now work equally outside the home, and then women come home to an unbalanced 'second shift' is very widespread, especially in the U.S.

As women have worked more outside the home, men have done more housework.  But, as expected, women still do more housework than men. 

However, men still do even more work outside the home than women do, which means that in the rich countries pretty much across the board, men and women work, on average, the same total hours.