Gender, Time, and Inequality

10313 Words42 Pages
Gender, Time and Inequality: Trends in Women's and Men's Paid Work, Unpaid Work and Free Time Liana C. Sayer Social Forces, Volume 84, Number 1, September 2005, pp. 285-303 (Article) Published by Oxford University Press DOI: 10.1353/sof.2005.0126 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/sof/summary/v084/84.1sayer.html Access provided by Eckerd College (5 Dec 2013 07:12 GMT) Gender, Time and Inequality: Trends in Women’s and Men’s Paid Work, Unpaid Work and Free Time Liana C. Sayer, Ohio State University Abstract This analysis uses nationally representative time diary data from 1965, 1975 and 1998 to examine trends and gender differences in time use. Women continue to do more household labor than men; however, men have substantially increased time in core household activities such as cooking, cleaning and daily child care. Nonetheless, a 30-minute-per-day free-time gap has emerged. Women and men appear to be selectively investing unpaid work time in the tasks that construct family life while spending less time in routine tasks, suggesting that the symbolic meaning of unpaid work may be shifting. At the same time, access to free time has emerged as an arena of time inequality. Economic, demographic and normative shifts all point in the direction of more similar time allocation patterns for men and women today as compared to 40 years ago. The widespread entry of women into market work since the 1960s has challenged the presumption that women’s primary adult role is that of caretaker for the home and family (Shelton and John 1996). Concurrently, the erosion of wages for men over the past 25 years has challenged the ability of men to be the sole family breadwinner (Levy 1995). Demographic trends of delayed marriage and reduced fertility mean that men and women are remaining single longer, and when they do marry,
Open Document