Eldercare providers are individuals who provide unpaid help to someone 65 years and above for a condition related to aging. Of the 41.3 million eldercare providers in the United States between 2015 and 2016, 56% were women. Although the majority are women, a non-trivial percentage of eldercare providers are men, 44%. The conventional narrative focuses on women in eldercare. This article shines a spotlight on men who provide eldercare.
On the days they provided eldercare, men and women spent about the same amount of time providing this care. However, men and women differ in the types of activities they engage in. Men tend to provide companionship and women tend to provide assistance with housework and personal care.
Figure 1, below, shows the percentage of time men and women spend on companionship activities. The largest differentials between men and women are in eating and drinking, leisure and sports, and travelling. Men and women are basically tied in providing companionship in organization, religious, and civic activities as well as telephone calls, mail, and email. Overall, men spent 56.8% of their time performing companionship activities and women spent 49% of their time for a difference of 7.8%.
| Figure 1. Percent distribution of time spent in eldercare companionship activities | |||
| Percent distribution of time spent in selected eldercare activities | |||
| Companionship Activity | Men | Women | |
| Eating and drinking | 8.3 | 5.8 | |
| Organizational, civic, and religious activities | 1.8 | 2.1 | |
| Leisure and sports | 39.6 | 34.5 | |
| Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail | 1 | 0.8 | |
| Traveling | 6.1 | 5.8 | |
| Total | 56.8 | 49 |
Women tend to provide assistance with housework and personal care. Figure 2, below, shows that women spend a greater percentage of their time doing housework, food prep and cleanup, and medical care. See the notes below Figure 2 for full definitions of housework and personal care.
| Figure 2. Percent distribution of time spent in eldercare housework and personal care activities | |||
| Percent distribution of time spent in selected eldercare activities | |||
| Housework Activity | Men | Women | |
| Household activities | 18.9 | 19.4 | |
| Purchasing goods and services | 2.4 | 3.2 | |
| Caring for and helping household members | 8.6 | 10.8 | |
| Caring for and helping nonhousehold members | 10.4 | 13.9 | |
| Working and work-related activities | 0.8 | 2.5 | |
| Total | 41.1 | 49.8 |
Notes: [1] Household activities include housework, food preparation and cleanup, lawn and garden care, and household management. [2] Caring for and helping household members include physical care and medical care. [3] Caring for and helping non-household members include physical care and medical care, housework, cooking and shopping, house and lawn maintenance, picking -up and dropping-off.
Women spend 49.8% of their time providing housework assistance while men spend 41.1% of time providing housework assistance for a differential of 8.7%. Within the subcategories of housework, men spend more time on lawn and garden care and physical care than women.
This note demonstrates that men spend a greater percentage of their time on companionship activities than women. There is a slight division of labor when it comes to eldercare. Men might not be the majority in providing eldercare, but they are a non-trivial category of providers.
Source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/elcare.t05.htm, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/elcare.nr0.htm