Dust to Dust

Jeff Bercovici is on vacation. Guest blogger Sean Elder submits:

Buried in a fascinating story about the relative happiness of men v. women on the front page of the New York Time's business section today is a little nugget about dust.

The story by David Leonhardt, which draws on several studies, cites a time-use survey headed by Princeton economist Alan Kreuger in which men and women were asked not just how they spent their time, but how they felt spending it. Women were more miserable doing some mundane tasks (cooking, laundry) than men - probably because they still do more of it, as part of their Second Shift.

What has changed -- and what seems to be the most likely explanation for the happiness trends -- is that women now have a much longer to-do list than they once did (including helping their aging parents). They can't possibly get it all done, and many end up feeling as if they are somehow falling short.

Mr. Krueger's data, for instance, shows that the average time devoted to dusting has fallen significantly in recent decades. There haven't been any dust-related technological breakthroughs, so houses are probably just dirtier than they used to be. I imagine that the new American dustiness affects women's happiness more than men's."

One might imagine more women have an inner mother running her white glove across a table top than men do, and that even men who compliment themselves on being cooking-cleaning dads & husbands don't get quite as mortified by the ongoing battle with dust.

What was surprising was to find this all in the context of the business pages. Dust doesn't get its due in general. Sure, science writer Hannah Holmes wrote a book about The Secret Life of Dust a few years ago, and Elvis Costello penned a number dedicated to "...Dust" . But those were more cosmic explorations, where Kreuger and co. are more concerned with the dust-as-dirt factor.

Dirt makes women unhappier than men, is one conclusion you could draw. And that women, getting the dirty end of the duster, are inclined (or forced) to do something about it.

I wouldn't know. My wife does even less cleaning than I do (and that's saying something) and disagrees with the statement that "there haven't been any dust-related technological breakthroughs."

"What about those micro-fiber dust cloths? " she said, which she instructs our cleaning lady to use.

That's what makes my wife happy.

by Sean Elder