As per the survey, while women spend 12.38 hours per week tendering to physically dependants, men spend only 6.65 hours in care of these people. The overall average is 10.69 hours per week.

The survey was conducted in 18,591 households spread over six selected states--Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya. The main objectives of the survey were to collect data for properly quantifying the economic contribution of women in the national economy and to study the gender discrimination in the household activities.

The survey presents data age-wise and according to the marital status. In all categories of age and marital status, women were found to be spending more time on children, the sick, etc, than men do. However, the time spent by currently married and separated women is higher than those never married and widowed.

Currently married women spend 12.54 hours per week looking after children, etc, whereas men spend almost half, 6.41 hours for the same. Similarly, separated women spend 10.18 hours, against 5.53 hours of men in the same category.

While never married men spend 10.39 hours per week in care of children, the sick, etc, women in the same category spend 7.24 hours. In the widowed category, the respective figures are 10.28 and 14.21 hours.

Discrimination in this regard was found to be least among children. In the 9-14 age-group, boys spend 9.25 hours per week and girls 11.17 hours in care of kids, the sick, etc. But it was maximum in the 15-59 age-group, with women spending more than double time on looking after the vulnerable members than men did. Women spend 12.29 hours, while men spend just 6.12 hours per week.

The older women were less discriminated against as compared to men, but 60 years old or older women spend as much as 15.34 hours per week, the highest in any category. Old men spend 9.44 hours per week.