Trends in Women’s and Men’s Time Use, 1965–2012: Back to the Future?

Abstract

Women's and men's time use is more similar today than it was in the 1960s, when specialization in adult roles was at its peak, but convergence remains stubbornly out of sight. This chapter updates earlier trend studies of time use and finds that recent data confirm the most consistent findings from earlier analyses. The greater similarity of women's and men's time use today is due much more to changes among women than among men. Further, despite declines in women's housework time, the increase in women's childcare time and paid work time has resulted in a gender gap in leisure time. New findings from this analysis reveal the gender gap in leisure is accounted for by men's higher levels of television time.