The Free-Time Gender Gap: How Unpaid Care and Household Labor Reinforces Women's Inequality

Gender Equity Policy Institute’s “The Free-Time Gender Gap” examines the gender disparities in time spent on unpaid childcare and household work, as well as the free-time gender gap which emerges alongside these imbalances. Analyzing data from the 2022 American Time Use Survey, we find that women consistently spend = more time than men taking care of children and doing household work like cooking, laundry, and cleaning. We also uncover a free-time gender gap; women across almost every group studied have less free time than men to socialize, relax, and pursue their interests and hobbies.
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The Gender Equity Policy Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing opportunity, fairness, and well-being for all people through research and education that exposes the gender impacts of the policies, processes, and practices of government and business.

For more information on GEPI and the report, please visit our website.