And the data bears that out — that even living together (which would seem to ostensibly be like being married without the paperwork) is actually still a better situation for women. It’s no doubt mostly subconscious, but once you start being husband and wife, all sorts of expectations around that creep in for both partners.
Drawing on a sample of 23,088 mothers living with children under the age of 13, they found that married and cohabitating mothers racked up approximately 3 hours of housework per day, compared to 2.5 and 2 hours respectively undertaken by divorced and never-married mothers.
Married women also get the least sleep and the fewest hours of leisure-time.Interestingly women who live with a male partner but haven’t married him have more leisure time — an extra 35 minutes per day — compared with married women.
This suggests that it’s not just having a man around that’s the problem. Rather, the issue seems to lie with the expectations that come with being his “wife”.
