Daily Mail

Men get more free time than women... and gap’s growing

- s.doughty@dailymail.co.uk By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspond­ent

MEN have five hours a week more free time than women, and the gap is getting wider, research has revealed.

Since the turn of the millennium, men’s leisure time – any period that doesn’t include work, sleep, chores or childcare – has expanded by an hour, while women have nearly ten minutes less to themselves.

The breakdown of leisure time by the Office for National Statistics said, in 2000, women had on average 38-and-a-half hours of leisure each week. That fell by 2015 – the latest figures available – to just over 38 hours and 20 minutes. But for men, their free time extended from just under 42 hours to just over 43.

The ONS pointed to the demands on mothers who combine work with raising young children as a major reason why men get more time to themselves. It said: ‘Although women are more frequently engaged in part-time work than men, they spend more time completing unpaid work such as household chores and childcare.’ The decline in leisure time for women has come as more mothers have taken jobs while their children are young. Last year nearly three out of four mothers of schoolage children were in work, compared to around six out of ten in the mid-1990s.

However, the leisure time gap was closest among couples with children under five, according to the report, which was based on surveys of more than 11,000 households. In 2015, fathers of under fives had around 30 hours of leisure a week, while mothers had 28-and-a-half hours. Leisure time for both parents had gone down by more than an hour since 2000.

Leisure time was counted as any spent in cultural activities socialisin­g, resting, sports or outdoor pursuits, hobbies, computing and games, watching TV, listening to music, reading, eating out and travel for reasons outside work or duty.

Time that was counted as spent other than in leisure included paid work, unpaid work such as chores and childcare, studying, travel unrelated to leisure activities, and ‘actions necessary for existing’ – such as eating and sleeping.

The leisure time advantage for men was especially big at weekends, when fathers enjoyed seven hours more to themselves than mothers. The report said: ‘Men consistent­ly took more leisure time than women regardless of how old the child in their household was.’

Young people between 16 and 24 had high amounts of leisure time, the ONS, adding: ‘This might be due to this age group including students.’

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