Women in India work 50 days extra as compared to their male counterparts: Report

Women across the world work on average 39 more days a year than men, with females in India working over 50 days extra compared to their male counterparts, a new report has found. On average, women work 50 minutes more a day than men globally, data from the new World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Gap report suggests.

The report, which estimates that it could take 170 years for economic inequalities between the sexes to close, found that the prevalence of unpaid work burdens women. In only six countries do men work more hours than women, but notably three of these are Nordic countries where parental leave can be shared relatively evenly between men and women.

"Shared parental leave can be good because it allows families to plan their lives, to fit having children in with their careers and to share responsibilities," Vesselina Ratcheva, a data analyst at the WEF told 'BBC'. Although men do 34% more paid work than women, the latter still spend more of their time on unpaid work such as housework, childcare and care for older people.

Taking unpaid work into account, the report found that women work over a month more than men per year. In India, Portugal and Estonia, this equates to more than 50 days more work for women than men per year. The gap in economic opportunity is now larger than at any point since 2008, even though nearly a quarter of a billion women have entered the global workforce over the past decade, according to the report.