Alone Together: Important gender imbalances exist in what partners do when together; men are much more likely to watch TV and enjoy leisure while women do domestic chores

Alone Together: Gender Inequalities in Couple Time. Giacomo Vagni. Social Indicators Research, Jun 1 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-019-02135-7

Abstract: An important body of research has used time diaries to assess the transformation of gender relationships at home. However, little is known about how partners perceive time shared together. While the household division of labor still remains heavily gendered, it can be expected that what partners do, even when they are together, is also gendered. The aim of this paper is to address the question of the discrepancy (or mismatch) in couples’ reporting of time together as well as the potential discrepancy in the activities engaged in during shared time. Using the 2015 UK Time Use Survey, I show that there is no gender difference in how partners report being together; however, important gender imbalances exist in what partners do when together. In particular, I find that, when together with their partner, men are much more likely to watch TV and enjoy leisure while women do domestic chores. I conclude by discussing different concepts of time together and the usefulness of couple-level diary data for studying gender relationships at home.

Keywords: Time use Gender Families Dyadic data