There is a new study that says women are doing less housework than they were forty-five. Before you start complaining that this is a waste of money because—duh! Well, just wait. This study is also saying that because women are cleaning less—they are fatter.
Using “time use diaries” filled out by women researchers say that American women are only spending half as much time vacuuming, doing laundry etc. but spending twice as much time sitting down and watching a screen. They also found that women not employed outside the home were burning 360 fewer calories in 2010 than in 1965 and women working outside the home were burning 132 fewer calories in 2010 than in 1965. The studies author, who is a doctor, recommends “finding ways to incorporate movement” into time spent at home, again this is another “duh” moment.
I have no problems with this study. It makes sense. In 1965 and earlier women worked at home and they cleaned a lot. When I clean my house I sweat. I move nonstop for about 3.5 hours (when I’m doing a deep clean about an hour if I’m not) so that’s a lot of calories. It’s a workout. I’m guessing that women at home would do this about three times a week. That’s a workout routine. There is nothing offensive in this study to me.
However, the New York Times reported on this with the headline, “What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines:” now that is offensive. It’s not what housework has to do with waistlines it’s what activity has to do with it. I work a full time job and I sit the whole time unless I decided to get up and go for a walk. When I get home I am beat and I usually lie in bed and catch up on my DVR to relax. I am not burning any calories. That has nothing to do with the fact that I’m not a stay at home housewife, it has to do with my decision to not take my butt to the gym. To infer that I’m thicker now than I would’ve been in 1965 because I burned my bra and went to work is ludicrous. Boo, NYT, boo on you!
