Parental Leisure Time: A Gender Comparison in Five Countries

Abstract

Contrasting family policies, employment regulation, childcare provision, and gender attitudes mean that the gender division of paid work and childcare varies cross-nationally. Does it follow that the quality and quantity of mothers and fathers' leisure time also vary across countries? We conduct a gender comparison of parents' leisure time using nationally representative time-use data from five countries with divergent patterns in the gender division of paid work and childcare; Australia, United States, France, Italy, and Denmark (N =5230). To capture aspects of quality, we differentiate between child-free leisure and leisure shared with children, and TV and non-TV leisure with children. In ..