Women work 39 more days a year than men

New research from the World Economic Forum suggests women work on average 39 more days a year than their male counterparts, which could be the reason for the slow progression toward closing the gender pay gap.

Data from the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report shows the average woman works 50 minutes longer each day than a man, usually unpaid.

Sadly, the report estimates that it will take 170 years to close the gender pay gap, which is now larger than it has been since 2008 thanks to the amount of unpaid overtime women tend to take on.

According to the research, men take on 34% more paid work than women, but when housework, childcare and care for older people is taken into account, female unpaid work piles up.

Interestingly, three of only six countries where men work more unpaid hours than women are Nordic nations, where shared parental leave is spread more evenly between mothers and fathers.