Revisiting the Gender Gap in Time-Use Patterns

Abstract

This study suggests that multitasking constitutes an important source of gender inequality, which can help explain previous findings that mothers feel more burdened and stressed than do fathers even when they have relatively similar workloads. Using data from the 500 Family Study, including surveys and the Experience Sampling Method, the study examines activities parents simultaneously engage in and how they feel when multitasking. We find that mothers spend 10 more hours a week multitasking compared to fathers and that these additional hours are mainly related to time spent on housework and childcare. For mothers, multitasking activities at home and in public are associated with an increase in negative emotions, stress, psychological distress, and work-family conflict. By contrast, fathers’ multitasking at home involves less housework and childcare and is not a negative experience. We also find several similarities by gender. Mothers’ and fathers’ multitasking in the company of a spouse or children are positive experiences, whereas multitasking at work, although associated with an increased sense of productivity, is perceived as a negative experience.

Division of housework and his and her view of housework fairness: A typology of Swedish couples

“…These couples also appear to be more likely to have a child in the home than equal sharing/fair couples, although the coefficient does not quite reach significance. That couples with children report more traditional housework allocations is documented in the literature and confirmed here in our study (Evertsson 2014;Gupta 1999;Offer and Schneider 2011;Sayer 2005). However, we show that the equity of these allocations is viewed differently by men and women based on the distribution of resources within the couple (groups 2 and 3).…”

Women’s complex daily lives: a gendered look at trip chaining and activity pattern entropy in Germany

“…Bittman and Wajcman (2000) provide evidence that women's leisure is more contaminated by interruptions and combined with unpaid work than men's, even though there may be little gender difference in leisure time in quantitative terms. Offer and Schneider (2011) add that mothers not only multitask more often than fathers, but that the types of multitasking differ in that mothers typically experience more negative effects and stress from multitasking than fathers. Alexander et al (2011) study the fragmentation of activity patterns in the Netherlands, i.e.…”

Interface trabalho-família, vinculação romântica e parentalidade

“…Hill (2005) verificou que os homens despendem mais horas a trabalhar, do que a cuidar das crianças, revelando menos conflito (em ambas as direções) do que as mulheres. Outros autores falam de um fosso de género (Offer & Schneider, 2011), com os homens a despenderem mais horas no trabalho profissional e as mulheres no familiar (Miranda, 2011).…”

“…Porém, outros realçam o fosso de género existente e comprovam diferenças (Offer & Schneider, 2011;Rogers & White, 1998;Scher & Scharabany, 2005). Efetivamente, tem-se verificado que as mulheres tendem a: dedicar um número de horas mais elevado ao trabalho não pago (e.g., cuidado das crianças) do que os homens (Eurostat, 2009;Miranda, 2011); apresentar níveis mais elevados de ansiedade, justificados por alguns autores com a importância díspar que a sociedade atribui à parentalidade em função do sexo (Cruz, 2013); responder mais eficazmente às necessidades da criança e a apresentar níveis mais elevados de parentalidade positiva (Know, Jeon, Lewsader, & Elicker, 2012).…”