How do household responsibilities change for women after marriage in Pakistan?
Last reviewed:
Direct answer
Marriage often adds cooking, cleaning, care and relationship-management responsibilities for women, especially when households divide unpaid work by gender. National time-use evidence is limited, so a universal before-and-after number is unavailable. The 2024–25 Labour Force Survey analysis reported women averaging 15.3 hours of unpaid domestic and care work per week compared with 6.8 for men, across the measured population rather than married people alone. Actual change depends on employment, children, household size, co-residence, income and whether other adults share care.
Sources used
Unpaid Domestic and Care Work from Labour Force Survey 2024–25
Gallup Pakistan analysis of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data
Analysis of official LFS 2024–25 data reporting weekly unpaid domestic and care hours by sex.View sourceRecognising and Reducing Women’s Unpaid Care Work in Pakistan
Pakistan Institute of Development Economics
Policy research summarizing women’s disproportionate non-market and care work in Pakistan.View sourcePakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18
National Institute of Population Studies and The DHS Program
National survey evidence for marriage timing, women, households and health indicators.View source