European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 7, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                How the other half lives a  study by Nadine Bromn new York times americans spend More time eating and tending to their appearance than russians bul russians sleep More than amen ans. Americans spend More Lime cleaning their Homes russians do More cooking and laundry. Americans Walch More i Levision russians spend More Lime on child care. These Are some of the glimpses into daily Hie contained in a new study of the ways people use time in the two countries the study was a joint venture of the Survey research censer of the in varsity of Maryland and the Institute Tor sociological research of the Soviel Academy of sciences discussions began in 1975 but the work was not completed until recently it ought to be subtitled from detente to glasnost or. John p. Robinson director of is Survey research Center and a professor of sociology Al the University of Maryland noted wryly in a Telephone interview from Berkeley. Calif. Work in the soviet Union was under the direction of or. Vladimir g. Andr Elenkov and or. Vasily a Patr Ushev interviews were conducted from january through april 1986 Wilh 710 residents of Jack son Michand 2,1b1 residents of Pskov a City Midway Between Erma Bombeck Leningrad and Riga in addition participant answered More than 600 written questions and Kepi diaries for 24 hours. The cities were selected because similar work had been conducted Mere in 196s, the study group in Jackson was considerably smaller than he one in Pskov because financing made available through Grants in the United states was considerably less than that provided by the soviet Academy of sciences. Jackson is a City of 80.000 whose economic base is mainly in the automotive Industry. Also heavily Industrial Pskov is an ancient russian City thai was badly damaged in world War f. The population which had numbered 62,000. Was 143 at War s end. Today it is 197,000. According to the study. The residents of Jackson and Pskov devoted the same amount of time about 19 hours a week each on average to housework and family care despite the last that the americans owned mors Lime saving household appliances. In both cites women did about 70 percent of the housework and men about 30 percent. When the women of the two cities were compared the differences Between them were found to be More marked than those Between the men a act attributed by the researchers to differences in the employment patterns of women. In Jackson. 55 percent of the women were in the labor Force compared with 81 percent of the women in Pskov. The Gap among Iho men was narrower 91 percent of those in Pskov and 85 Porcell of those in Jackson hold jobs. Although More of she Soviel women worked outside Iho Homo they devoted More Lime to family obligations including the preparation of Moats eight hours a week in Pskov six in Jackson and laundry four hours in Pskov two in Jackson by contrast women in Jackson spent More time in House croaning seven hours a week compared to four and a half in Pskov the Pskov women also spent More Lime in child care defined for the study As tasks directly involving children such As Reading or taking them to lessons. In Pskov it was four hours a week in Jackson three however the calculations used to arrive at those figures also included women with no children at Home. In both Artles men pitched in Al Home or failed to to the same degree there is a stereotype that american couples share household tasks More equally than do soviet couples Robinson said but our numbers showed that in the soviet Union women do about 69 percent o the housework and men 31 percent. In the United slates women do 67 percent and men do 33 percent. The local mount of time spent on household related work was almost identical in both countries it was about 25 hours a week or women and 11 hours for men the Jackson respondents had More Leisure Lime than their Pskov counterpart. Again differences were More marked for women than Lor men. The Jackson women had 11 hours More Leisure than the Pskov women. The Jackson men 4 hours More than Pskov men. Robinson outlined the mos popular Leisure activities in both cities and the number of minutes a Day taken by each. Organizational activities including Church attendance in Jackson. 17 minutes a Day in Pskov 7 minutes. O television viewing in Jackson 149 minutes a Day in Pskov 109 minutes social pursuits and conversation in Jackson 86 minutes in Pskov 34 minutes 9 participating in sports in Jackson is minutes a Day. In Pskov 9 minutes. But there were activities to which Pskov residents devoted More Lime than Jackson residents of thong them were Reading Pskov 42 minutes a Day Jackson 27 minutes and walking Pskov 16 minutes a Day Jackson 4 minutes. In addition the americans spent More time eating 61 minutes a Day compared with 48 minutes for the russians and in washing dressing and caring Lor personal appearance 71 minutes to 55 minutes. But they spent less time sleeping 7 hours 54 minutes a Day. Compared with 8 hours and 17 minutes. The results indicate a rather important difference in the locus of social life in the two communities Robinson said. Soviet citizens appear to have More social Contact at the work place including eating meals. By the Lime he workday is done there is less need or Opportunity or socializing outside the immediate  j however andr Elenkov noted that Pskov was dosing i in on Jackson in television viewing. In 1965, about 40 percent of the people in Pskov had television Sals now everyone has them a said. In Pskov there Are Only Lour channels to watch but the amount of time people spend rending is decreasing As they watch More to there in t a Day goes by that children present Aien t compared to children  the latest parallel has to do with chores in seems children of earlier times were put to work As Early As possible lending goats finding and chopping firewood and making soap and candles. Today s generation of kids is perceived As Consumers rather than  they got thai right. Today s parents and i include myself have possibly harvested the greatest crop of Couch potatoes in the history of agriculture. They have been planted in front of to sets nurtured by junk food protected from air and harsh outdoor elements and fertilized by soaps and game shows. Under those Ideal Condi Lions you can t miss yielding a bumper crop. Think Back to when you were a kid How Many times a Day did you get your Mother a Glass of water when she was sitting on top of the sink and How Many times Page 16 the stars and stripes did you hear gel my purse Lor  we dealt with mothers who pulled out a recipe in the morning with 12 ingredients and sent us to the store for them. One ingredient at a time. I can remember being two Miles away from Home having a Good time when i heard my Mother calling. I ran like a Marathon runner to get to her Side. Gasping and holding the stitch in my Side i panted. What do you want mama she said. I just wanted to know where you worn go play we were kept Busy. The irony is thai with so Many mothers working outside the Home there has never been such a need for cheap labor yet the Only assigned thing kids Are asked to do is stay out of  this in t a chore. It s a sentence do you know what you Call someone who uses a Lowel and never washes in. Eals a meal and never does the dishes sits in a roam they never clean and Are entertained till they drop if you have just answered. My kids you re in trouble because i have just saturday november 7,1987 described a House guest. Maybe that s the problem. A House guest does t feel like a Parl of a family. Or have a responsibility toward one. Most can hardly Wail to gel Home and be useful again. My kids were never happier than when they were bragging to their friends about How overworked underpaid exploited abused tortured and stressed out they were because they had 1c put their own underwear in the clothes hamper How could i deprive Idem of All that misery i could t Liva Wilh myself. I remember one Day As a kid living with my grandmother and during a Day running upstairs Lor her 3,000 times emptying ashes out of the basemen picking weeds polishing the piano keys with milk looking Lor the dog gelling the mail and bringing her Coffee i said How Long am i going to be your personal slave she said. Until you get married and have personal slaves of your  it got me married. C 1mt. L01 Anoid Utji