© Provided by Woman's Day Study Finds That Men Think They're Doing More Housework Than They Actually Are

He says they share the responsibilities of childcare and household chores equally. She saysshe does more of these tasks.

Sorry fellas, but research sides with the ladies on this one. 

While modern fathers do more housework and child-rearing than previous generations, their work isn't split 50-50 with mothers, as some would like to think. According to a recentPew Research Center study of families with two full-time working parents, men said they shared caring for sick children, managing kids' schedules, and housework with their partners equally, while women were more likely to say they were the ones spending more time on these tasks. 

It could be mistaken for a matter of "he said, she said," if it weren't for the scientific data: An analysis of research from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) shows women's perceptions are closer to reality. According to the survey, working moms spend a modest amount of additional time on household tasks (roughly 1.7 hours per day versus 1.2 for dads), and working dads spend slightly more time on paid work (6.5 hours versus 5.6 hours per day), but moms also spend more time on childcare activities (1.4 hours per day versus 1 hour) than dads. 

The extra housework and parental activities-driving kids to school and extracurricular events, caring for sick children, and assisting with homework-appear to eat into women's free time. The study found that working mothers have, on average, 20.2 hours per week of leisure time, while working fathers have 24.2. 

The New York Times covered the surveys last week in an article titled "Men Do More at Home, But Not As Much As They Think," eliciting a range of opinionated comments from both men and women, on such sticking points as: 

How "housework" is defined:

It's true - I can't breast-feed our child. But I can't remember the last time my wife took out the trash, painted a bedroom, unclogged a toilet, fixed the Wi-Fi, changed the oil in our car or mowed the lawn. But I guess those tasks don't count as housework.

Who "cares" more: 

There's another reason why women do more of the work at home, at least at my home. I care more about it. I can't stand dishes in the sink (we have a dishwasher), I don't like overflowing laundry hampers, I like my groceries stashed where they belong, I like the cars to be clean...My husband, a lovely man, father and provider, couldn't care less about all that. He doesn't even 'see' the mess, if there is one.

The need for positive feedback: 

I would agree that my wife does the bulk of home and child care, but it's her choice. I tried contributing when we were first married, and all I received was criticism for how I was doing it wrong (towels folded wrong, forks in the wrong direction in the dishwasher, pillows put on the couch wrong, etc.).

And looking on the bright side: 

What great news! I love the first part of the headline, "Men Do More at Home." So much sniping about the second half, we forget to celebrate the first.