How is the time of women and men distributed in Europe?

European Commission Eurostat

Description

Population and social conditions
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Sujets

• Leisure (album)
• Habitability
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-EUROSTAT
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

Extrait

Statistics

in focus

POPULATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

4/2006

Author Christel ALIAGA

C o n t e n t s

Domestic activities still largely women's work................................. 4

Quite similar distributions of free time activities.................................. 5

Men travel by car more than women, with differences between countries ......................................... 6

Time use structure of employed persons ........................................... 8

Time use results for Denmark, the Netherlands and Romania ............. 8

 Manuscript completed on: 28.11.2005 Data extracted on: 28.11.2005 ISSN 1024-4352 Catalogue number: KS-NK-06-004-EN-C © European Communities, 2006

How is the time of women

and men distributed in Europe?

Although patterns of time use are generally quite similar throughout Europe, some interesting differences can be observed between women and men and between the countries surveyed. On average, women aged 20 to 74 spend much more time than men on domestic work, ranging from less than 50% more in Sweden to over 200% more in Italy and Spain (table 1). Women spend most time doing domestic work in Italy, Estonia, Slovenia, Hungary and Spain, around 5 hours or more per day. The lowest figures are found in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Latvia - less than 4 hours per day.

Men spend on average more time on gainful work/study than on domestic tasks whereas the opposite is true for women in most of the countries surveyed. The total hours worked per day  i.e. gainful work/study and domestic work - is highest for women in Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy and Spain (around 7½ hours or more). It is shorter for men than for women except in Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, where it is almost equal or only slightly shorter (table 2).

Table 1: Time use structure of women and men aged 20 to 74

Women Gainful work, study Domestic work Travel Sleep Meals, personal care Free time Total

Hours and minutes per day BE DE EE ES FR IT LV LT HU PL SI FI SE UK NO 2:07 2:05 2:33 2:26 2:31 2:06 3:41 34: 1 2:32 2:29 2:59 2:49 3:12 2:33 2:53 4:32 4:11 5:02 4:55 4:30 5:20 3:56 42: 9 4:58 4:45 4:58 3:56 3:42 4:15 3:47 1:191:181:061:050:541:141:201:040:511:061:021:071:231:251:11 8:29 8:19 8:35 8:32 8:55 8:19 8:44 83: 5 8:42 8:35 8:24 8:32 8:11 8:27 8:10 2:43 2:43 2:08 2:33 3:02 2:53 2:10 22: 2 2:19 2:29 2:08 2:06 2:28 2:16 2:08 4:505:244:364:294:084:084:093:494:384:364:295:305:045:045:51 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24

Men BE DE EE ES FR IT LV LT HU PL SI FI SE UK NO Gainful work, study :234:065:594:4531:460:450:472:4154:184:16:094:304:453:3033:3 Domestic work 2:38 2:21 2:48 1:37 2:22 1:35 1:50 20: 9 2:40 2:22 2:40 2:16 2:29 2:18 2:22 Travel 3 1:03 1:13 1:09 1:12 1:30 1:30 1:201:35 1:27 1:17 1:16 1:03 1:35 1:28 11: Sleep 1:854:863:823:82:218:388:258:378811:820:872:811:8:158:1787:5 Meals, personal care 0:231:230:211:21:202:192:212:352253:231:215:350:42:0202:32:4 Free time 3023:642:5:592:552:643:5805:464:084:485:5022:525:582:571:45: Total 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 Source: National Time Use Surveys (see methodological notes) See methodological notes for activities definitions. Unspecified time use is included in Free time. FR: In France, long time periods spent on rest were coded as Sleep and in the other countries as Rest included in Free time. NO: encouraged reporting conversation as main activity by diary instruction (coded Socialising which is part of free time activities). National data were rounded, which may result in small discrepancies. The average time spent on various activities is calculated for all persons aged 20 to 74, and across the whole year including working days and weekends, as well as holiday periods. This explains why, for example, the time spent on gainful work is significantly less than a normal working day.

The data presented in this publication are taken from national Time Use Surveys. Time Use Surveys provide statistics on the division of gainful and domestic work between women and men, and on their participation in education, cultural activities and other spheres of life (voluntary work, care, mobility, leisure time ). A representative sample of individuals completes a diary during one weekday and one weekend day distributed over the whole year.