Household responsibilities in Kyrgyzstan are largely placed on women, as indicated by a recent study by the National Statistical Committee titled "Time Use Survey."
According to this study, women spend an average of 4 hours and 40 minutes a day on household chores, which accounts for more than 19.4% of their total time. In contrast, men allocate significantly less time to these tasks—about 3.8% or less than one hour a day.
Interestingly, in rural areas, both men and women spend 1.2 times more time on household chores compared to urban residents. For example, working women in villages spend about 6.5 hours a day on household responsibilities, while their urban counterparts spend around 5 hours. The difference for men is less pronounced: in villages, they spend about 50 minutes, while in cities, they spend about 35 minutes a day.
The structure of household responsibilities also varies between genders. Men, regardless of their place of residence, are more likely to engage in repairing household appliances and furniture. In cities, about 11% of their time is spent on these types of work, while in villages, this figure reaches 30%. Additionally, men actively participate in grocery shopping, which takes up 15% to 23% of their time.
For women, household responsibilities are more diverse and depend on their place of residence, family composition, and employment level. In cities, working women spend about 9% of their time on shopping for goods, while 91% of their time goes to household chores. The most significant share of time is allocated to cooking (30%), caring for children and grandchildren (17%), cleaning (14%), washing dishes (10%), and laundry (10%).
In rural areas, working women spend about 6% of their time on shopping, while 94% goes to household chores. Of this, approximately 28% of their time is spent on cooking, 15% on caring for children and grandchildren, 14% on cleaning, 13% on washing dishes, and 12% on laundry and ironing.
Among the working population, the highest time expenditures on household chores are observed among men aged 35–44 and over 60, as well as women aged 14 to 34.
