It is often claimed by women here and on the internet broadly, that most mothers with children are working 9-5, 40 hours a week, just like their male counterparts, while simultaneously doing the vast majority of housework and childcare. They bemoan the idea that women are working a "second shift" and often use this "fact" to blame men for being lazy and ensuing marital breakdowns.

However, by and large this is not the case.

A Pew analysis of the American Time Use survey from 2013 found that women with children spent an average of only 21 hours a week doing paid work. This is around half that of their male counterparts, who spent an average of 38 hours every week doing paid work.

The reality is that in most households with children, women do spend substantially less time doing paid work to take over homemaking and childcare duties. By and large mothers are not working substantially more than fathers.