Posted on: Monday, April 14, 2003

No time for errands on weekdays, women say

By Justin Bachman
Associated Press

Women workers: The bank, the post office, the laundromat — do you ever see these places on a weekday?

Many women say their long hours have destroyed their ability to get any personal errands done during the regular workday. In a survey of 300 women, 75 percent said they either work late or take work home. And after work, the demands of children often supersede time for their own needs.

For example, only 10 percent of the women said they had ever found time to exercise during a normal workday.

And if work duties were less demanding? About half those surveyed said they would run errands, 48 percent said they would have lunch with a friend, 46 percent said they would exercise and 19 percent said they would shop for clothes.

Women make up nearly half the U.S. workforce, 47 percent, and 34 percent of those women have children younger than 18, according to the Labor Department.

The online survey was conducted Feb. 27-March 2 for Jones New York, a manufacturer of women's apparel.