Women perform 80% of all unpaid care work in the European Union.

Omissions

• The MEP did not cite a specific source for the 80% figure.
• The 80% figure conflates two different metrics: the participation rate (79% of women do cooking/housework daily, per EIGE) and the actual share of total unpaid care work hours (approximately 70–76% for the EU based on time-use surveys).
• The most recent EIGE CARE Survey (2024, second wave) and Gender Equality Index (2025) contain updated data, but the precise share-of-hours figure for all unpaid care work across the EU was not directly confirmed in the accessible search results within the search limit.
• The claim does not specify whether it refers to participation rates or share of hours, which are substantively different indicators.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) — Gender Equality Index 2025Women still spend considerably more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men, leaving them less time for social and recreational activities. In the domain of time, 79% of women cook and/or do housework daily compared to 34% of men (2023 Index data, cited in accompanying materials).
• PrimaryEIGE — Sharing care, closing gender gaps: CARE Survey 2024The second-wave CARE Survey (conducted in 2024 across all 27 EU Member States) captures the impact of unpaid care responsibilities on people's daily lives and confirms that women remain the primary providers of unpaid care across the EU.