Time Use Survey & Gender

According to a 2013 survey carried out by the Pew Research Center, women in the United States have about five hours less free time per week than men. When there are children under 18 at home, the gap is three hours as both men and women have less free time when there are children. Working fathers, on average, have three more hours of leisure time per week than working mothers (via and via and via).

"Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on a given day--23 percent compared with 18 percent. On days they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women--1.7 hours compared with 1.2 hours."
American Time Use Survey, 2015

A Dutch study comes to the conclusion that men and women have the same amount of free time but that the times they are free differ. Women have more free time on weekdays while men engage in leisure activities more often than women at weekends. Interestingly, women seem to have a smaller "free time budget" as their free time is more fragmented, divided up into shorter segments of leisure time (via).

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Photograph of Paulette Dubost by Robert Doisneau (1959) via