Indian men spend most time on personal care, sleeping and precious little for other “work”

Even if they were slothful couch potatoes 15 years ago, have Indian men become more helpful around the house now? A recently released OECD report condemns the Indian man as the least housework-friendly as he spends a mere 19 minutes a day doing chores as compared to the Slovenian man’s 114 minutes. But that damning indictment is based on data culled from the 1990s, and there have been epic changes in India in the intervening 15 years, including the rising use of household appliances. Maybe, more recent surveys could redeem the Indian male, but it is unlikely to show that they have become dynamos of household wizardry on par with the paragons in Slovenia, Denmark and Estonia. It must be noted, however, that in those countries, the women still do more work around the house than their admittedly less lazy male co-habitors.

Indian men have a lot more to answer for than merely not helping with the dishes. Indian men figure at the top of the list when it comes to time spent on “personal care”, or sleeping, eating and drinking — even if the data was from a time when TV channels were far fewer. At 703 minutes, it does seem like an inordinately indulgent amount of “me time”, leaving precious little for other “work” such as jobs, commuting, entertainment, sport and “the family".