Women doctors are still doing more of the housework than their partners, just as they were decades ago, a new study says.
The research found that women doctors were much more likely to do the cleaning, shopping, laundry, ironing and childcare than were their husbands or male partners.
Joanne Lawrence, a PhD student at University College London, examined data from surveys of all the doctors born in a particular week in April 1970, a total of 68. This showed that:
- In 2000, 50% of women doctors said they did most of the cooking of main meals, a figure which rose to 57% in 2012. The figures for male doctors were 13% and 9%, with some couples sharing the burden equally.
- In 2000, 60% of women doctors said they did most of the shopping, compared with 61% saying this in 2012. The figures for male doctors were 13% and 6%, respectively.
- In 2000, 80% of women doctors said they did most of the laundry and ironing in the home, compared with 78% saying this in 2012. The figures for male doctors were 9% and 3%, respectively.
- The proportion of women doctors doing most of the care of their children fell from 2000 to 2012 – 67% to 40% – as their families grew older, with the remainder sharing this equally with their partner. No male doctors reported doing most of the childcare at either age.
- The proportion of women doctors doing most of the cleaning fell 2000-2012, from 70% to 39% (no men said they did most), as their families grew older and more employed cleaners. The male doctors said they did most of the repairs and DIY in both years.
Results for 2018 showed that women doctors still spent significantly more time on domestic chores than their male peers.
Ms Lawrence also looked at an earlier survey’s data for doctors born in a particular week in March 1958, a total of 73. She found that women doctors were just as likely to be doing more of the cleaning and shopping in 2018 as in 1991.
Ms Lawrence told the British Sociological Association’s conference on Work, Employment and Society in Bath today [Wednesday, 9 September]: “Whether it’s cooking, cleaning, shopping or laundry, overwhelmingly more women cohort members said that they did most of the work, and male cohort members said that their partner did most.
“The research charts the persistence of this disparity over the decades from 1991 to 2018, and we have no reason to think much has changed in 2026.
“Although women doctors had begun their career operating on an equal basis to men, parenthood brought very different pressures – men continued their careers while women took time out for caring responsibilities.
“Much of this seemed to take many women doctors by surprise, as throughout their education they were assured that they could do anything a man could do, and their personal relationships were based on equality, until the advent of children when differences emerged. In theory, they had agency over their career, in practice they often felt they had no choice.”
She said the disparity between the sexes was only partly explained by the fact that women doctors were more likely to be working part-time than male doctors and therefore took on child care, she said. Expectations that women should do more housework were also responsible.
“It’s not that women do more household chores because they work part-time. In many cases, they work part-time because responsibility for household chores defaults to them and reducing their working hours is a route to survival. Too frequently it can seem like the only option.”
She said that 60%-85% of male doctors were supported by partners who worked part- time or wholly in the home – conversely more than 85% of women doctors had partners who worked full-time.
Ms Lawrence also interviewed six women doctors aged 25-50. One told her: “He works full-time, he’s never considered going part-time even. I’ve asked him to, but he feels like within his specialty that wouldn’t be acceptable. Even though I was asking him to do things, I felt like he just didn’t think it was a priority – things that I expected him to do, he didn’t think needed to be done and so then I felt like I had to do it myself.”
Another said: “We try and take it in turns, but it’s been his turn for a long time.”
- Some of those surveyed were partnered with other doctors and some with people from other professions.
For more information, please contact:
Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Tel: 0044 (0)7964 023392
tony.trueman@britsoc.org.uk
Notes:
- Ms Lawrence used data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, following the lives of around 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week in April 1970, allowing a direct comparison of doctors’ responses over the years. For the 2018 wave, the questions changed, so no exact comparison was possible.
She also used the National Child Development Study, a longitudinal study which followed every UK child born in one week in March 1958. This cohort, originally 17,000 people, was surveyed at regular intervals, via interview, online and postal questionnaires, at age 23, 33, 42, 46, 50 and beyond. The six women doctors she interviewed were not part of the survey itself, but recruited separately. - The British Sociological Association’s Work, Employment and Society Conference takes place from 9-11 September 2026 at the University of Bath, with more than 200 papers presented. The BSA is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 3890729. Registered Charity Number 1080235 www.britsoc.co.uk
- University College London (UCL) is a global top 10 university, set up in London 200 years ago to offer education for all. Today, it gathers 60,000 staff and students, from over 150 countries, to create a unique city within a city – a research and innovation powerhouse that leads the world in subjects spanning the arts, sciences, technology and the humanities. It has nurtured 33 Nobel Prize winners because brave ideas have the scale and the support they need to succeed. UCL turns 200 in 2026. www.ucl.ac.uk
