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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Sydney 28% of the female population over 15 did more than 14 hours of housework each week in 2021.
There has been increased interest in identifying, acknowledging and valuing the unpaid work that supports home and community life. The changing amount of time spent on unpaid housework in different Household Types and, particularly the distribution of this work within the household, can indicate the changing roles of males, females and older children in society. The level of unpaid domestic work in Greater Sydney may also be related to Household Income, as higher income households are able to outsource some of these tasks.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'In the last week did the person spend time doing unpaid domestic work for their household?'
| Unpaid domestic work | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney - Females aged 15+ (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Hours spent on unpaid domestic work | Number | % | South East Queensland % | Number | % | South East Queensland % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Did unpaid domestic work | 1,502,510 | 69.0 | 73.4 | 1,228,753 | 72.3 | 77.2 | +273,757 |
| Less than 5 hours | 320,741 | 14.7 | 16.3 | 289,374 | 17.0 | 16.4 | +31,367 |
| Between 5 and 14 hours | 561,333 | 25.8 | 28.8 | 406,257 | 23.9 | 26.0 | +155,076 |
| Between 15 and 29 hours | 334,000 | 15.3 | 15.9 | 259,964 | 15.3 | 17.1 | +74,036 |
| 30 hours or more | 286,436 | 13.2 | 12.4 | 273,158 | 16.1 | 17.7 | +13,278 |
| Did no unpaid domestic work | 548,676 | 25.2 | 20.9 | 294,259 | 17.3 | 13.6 | +254,417 |
| Not stated | 126,773 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 176,700 | 10.4 | 9.2 | -49,927 |
| Total persons aged 15+ | 2,177,959 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,699,712 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +478,247 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the unpaid domestic work performed by the female population in Greater Sydney in 2021 compared to South East Queensland shows that there was a similar proportion of females who performed 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work per week.
Overall, 28% of the female population reported performing 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work, compared with 28.3% for South East Queensland.
The major differences between the share of the female population performing unpaid domestic work in Greater Sydney and South East Queensland were:
- A larger percentage of females who did no unpaid domestic work (25.2% compared to 20.9%)
- A smaller percentage of females who did unpaid domestic work (total) (69.0% compared to 73.4%)
- A smaller percentage of females who did between 5 and 14 hours of domestic work (25.8% compared to 28.8%)
- A smaller percentage of females who did less than 5 hours of domestic work (14.7% compared to 16.3%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the number of females performing unpaid domestic work in Greater Sydney, between 2006 and 2021 were those who:
- Did unpaid domestic work (+273,757 females)
- Did no unpaid domestic work (+254,417 females)
- Between 5 and 14 hours (+155,076 females)
- Between 15 and 29 hours (+74,036 females)
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