When unpaid cooking, cleaning and child care get a dollar value, income inequality in the US shrinks – but the gap has grown since 1965

Women’s unpaid work at home has declined much more than men’s contributions have increased.

By: Leila Gautham, University of Leeds and Nancy Folbre, UMass Amherst, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: March 4, 2026

Words: 1,139

Last Updated: 6 days, 8 hours ago

Body Text Preview

By Leila Gautham, University of Leeds and Nancy Folbre, UMass Amherst

When economists track inequality, they typically focus on income and spending.

But a significant share of the services that families actually consume – meals cooked at home, child care, housecleaning and lawn mowing – is produced by unpaid labor that never appears in these conventional measures.

As economists who study caregiving and inequality, we wanted to know whether …

Create a free account to access this story and more

Join Plucky Wire to access full stories, collaborate with newsrooms, and discover content from networks around the world.

Email Us