Why Women Have Less Free Time

A recent report found that the division of home responsibilities is still grossly unequal. Mothers—whether they are married or single—do significantly more than fathers. In fact, the “The Free-Time Gender Gap” report found that “simply being a woman is linked to spending more time on unpaid childcare and household work, and having less free time, even when controlling for age, income, race/ ethnicity, parental status, and marital status."

What does it mean for women to have less free time, and how can we keep working to close the gender gap?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

• The differences in socialization between men and women when it comes to our living spaces
• How time inequality serves to further reinforce and perpetuate gender inequality
• How "secondary childcare" factors into the free-time gender gap

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Natalia Vega Varela, and Leyly Moridi “The Free-Time Gender Gap: How Unpaid Care and Household Labor Reinforces Women’s Inequality,” Gender Equity Policy Institute, October 2024.
• Allison Daminger for the American Sociological Review: De-gendered Processes, Gendered Outcomes: How Egalitarian Couples Make Sense of Non-egalitarian Household Practices
• Anne Helen Petersen on Substack: What Makes Women Clean

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