THEY are regarded as chores by both sexes, but fall disproportionately on only one. The latest survey of time use in America suggests women still shoulder most of the housework, spending on average an hour a day scrubbing, hoovering and shopping, compared with barely 20 minutes for the unfairer sex.
家务活应该由男女分担，但大部分落到一方身上。在美国，这项关于时间使用的最新调查表明，家里的女人依然承担大部分的家务劳动，平均每天花在擦洗、吸尘、购物上的时间为一小时，而大老爷们花在这上面的时间仅为
20
分钟。
Standard explanations for this division of labour rest on the pay gap between the sexes. A recent report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a think-tank, shows women still earn about 20% less than men—close to the rich-country average — in America. Couplescan maximise earnings if the lower-paid (usually female) partner does the unpaid work at home. But in a new paper* Leslie Stratton of Virginia Commonwealth University asks whether different attitudes to housework also play a role in divvying up the dusting.
承担家务男女有别的标准解释是他们的收入存在差距。智库“妇女政策研究所”最近的一项报告表明，美国女性收入仍比男性低
20%
，接近富裕国家的平均水平。不计报酬的家务劳动让夫妻中收入较低者（常为女方）去做，能使家庭收入最大化。但弗吉尼亚联邦大学的莱斯利•斯特拉顿在最近的一篇论文中提出疑问，男女双方的不同态度是否与家务劳动的分配也有联系。
Mr Stratton draws on data from the 2000-01Time Use Survey in Britain, which shows how people spent their day and which tasks they enjoyed. Attitudes certainly differed: women disliked laundry less than men. Ironing was generally dreaded; weirdly large numbers of both sexes liked shopping for food.
斯特拉顿先生利用
2000-2001
的英国的“时间使用调查”数据，从这些数据能够看到人们的一天是怎样度过的，他们乐于做些什么工作。态度当然不同：女性不像男性那样讨厌洗衣服，双方都怕熨烫衣服，喜欢购买食品的男性女性数量都大得离谱。
Ms Stratton found some evidence for the pay-gap hypothesis. Women with higher wages did a little less work at home. A woman who earned 10% more than average ducked out of two minutes’ housework per weekday. Her partner heroically made up this time at the weekend. But his wages made no difference to the extent of his efforts around the house.
斯特拉顿女士发现了收入差距假设的一些证据，收入高的女性所做家务就稍少一些。一位收入高于平均数
10%
的女性非周末每天做家务的时间会减少
2
分钟，其配偶会爽快地在周末把这个缺口补上。但男性收入的多少与干家务的多少无关。
The major determinant of how much housework a man did was how much he disliked it. Men who liked housework a lot (sic) spent around 60% more time per weekday on it than those who were in different toit, sparing their partners up to ten minutes of drudgery. Women’s preferences seemed to have no effect on the time they spent on chores.
决定男性做家务多少的主要因素是他对家务活厌烦程度的大小。特别喜欢做家务的男性（原文如此）非周末每天做家务的时间比那些对家务事冷淡的男性多出
60%
左右，这最多可以减少配偶
10
分钟的操劳时间。女性的偏好对于她们做家务的时间似乎没有影响。
One way to reduce the burden for both is to get help, although again the rewards are unevenly spread. In areas where hired help was 10% cheaper than average, he got away with 43% (9.6 minutes a day) less housework at weekends, and she did 17% (14.2 minutes) less. Almost all the extra housework generated by children was taken on by the woman. Each sprogunder five added 20 minutes to her weekday housework time, but just a couple of minutes to his. As children get older the weekday burden falls, but weekend time rises—and still comes mainly from her.
减少双方负担的方法之一是请人帮忙，尽管由此得到的好处也不会均分。在有些地方，雇佣帮手的花费低于平均数
