In a study titled How Australians Use Their Time, 1997, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that we still relied on women cooking, with 80% of women spending time preparing food, compared to 49% of men. The same study showed men spent 7% of their time on domestic work compared to 13% for women.

Things hadn’t changed a great deal by 2016. A research study commissioned by a food delivery service found that women cooking was still the norm. When asked who did the most cooking in their household, 25% said mother, while 23% said wife. The figures for father and husband were 6% and 7% respectively, while a small percentage said that the task was shared equally.

That study found that, on the average weeknight, 37% of people spent half an hour or less preparing dinner, while a further 50% spent between half an hour and an hour. Despite being busy and time poor, 97% of respondents said they chose to cook at home on week nights, for reasons including saving money, preferring the taste of home-cooked meals and eating healthier food.

Other findings indicated that around 45% of households still sat down to eat together at least once a day, but 47% said that the whole family eating together was probably a thing of the past.

In 2022, the ABS released the findings of another How Australians Use Their Time study. To some degree, cooking duties had evened up, with 75% of women and 55% of males participating. The ABS did point out, however, that the study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may well have skewed the results.