47th International Association for Time Use Research Conference

What are time use diary data and how can we use them? A focus on the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS)

Author: Elena Mylona

Contributing author(s): Dr Juana Lamote de Grignon Perez, Prof Oriel Sullivan, Prof Jonathan Gershuny

Time diaries capture individuals’ time use and provide a highly accurate account of the activities individuals are engaging in, limiting the ability of the respondents to give approximate answers to questions regarding activity durations. Collected over 24-hour periods, usually completed in 10- or 15-minute slots, time diaries consist of different information about the activities explored, such as secondary activities, co-presence, location and affect (enjoyment). Time diaries allow for a thorough examination of the participants’ time use, both in terms of outcomes and context.

This presentation will provide an introduction to time use research and existing time use datasets, focusing on the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS), and invite you to think about how time use data could be utilized in your research, ranging from work-life balance to childcare, as well as sleep, physical activity, eating and transport behaviours.

An Analysis on Time Use and Time Poverty among the Elderly in India

Author: Ambady Sivan

Contributing author(s): Arun Kumar M, Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Pondicherry University, India

Background

India is experiencing a demographic transition marked by a rising elderly population due to increased life expectancy and declining fertility. As the share of older adults increases in the population, understanding their daily time allocation becomes crucial for designing inclusive ageing policies. Time use reflects their engagement in productive, domestic, caregiving, leisure, and personal care activities, serving as a key indicator of autonomy and well-being. Despite their continued contributions, especially in unpaid roles, many older adults face time constraints that remain underexplored. Time poverty, defined as having inadequate discretionary time after essential tasks, is a growing concern among disadvantaged groups such as older women, rural residents, and the less educated. Yet, this issue remains underrepresented in both policy and research in India.

Methods

This study uses data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) Time Use Survey (2019) to examine time allocation and time poverty among individuals aged 60 and above (n = 52,481). Time spent on nine major activity categories is analyzed, with variations assessed across socio-demographic groups. Time poverty is measured by subtracting essential activity time (employment, unpaid domestic work, and personal care) from the total daily time, and those with free time below 60% of the median are considered time-poor. Logistic regression assesses how sociodemographic factors influence the likelihood of time poverty.

Results

The findings reveal significant gender differences in activity patterns: elderly women primarily engage in unpaid domestic and care work, while men are more involved in outdoor and economic activities. Time use also varies significantly with residence, age, education, marital status, and caste. About one-fourth of the elderly are time-poor, with higher incidence observed among rural residents, the illiterate, Scheduled Castes, and younger elderly. Education was found to be an important predictor of time poverty, and it is found that time poverty is highest among the illiterate (OR=2.61) and significantly lower among those with higher education.

Conclusion

The findings reveal the unequal burden of time poverty among India’s elderly and underscore the need for inclusive, age-sensitive policies that support older adults in managing their time and improving their well-being.

The distribution of care work among women small scale traders: Options for policy development

Author: Atieno Rosemary

This paper is based on results from a study on the implications of unpaid care work and gender based violence for women in cross border trade. It focusses on the distribution of unpaid care work among women traders in cross border trade in times of crisis and the policy implications for increasing women’s participation in trade. The study covered women traders along three common border points of the Eastern African countries of Kenya and Tanzania, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda and South Sudan. This paper provides empirical evidence on the connection between unpaid care work and women's engagement in trade  and what lessons can feed into policy on care work.

For women cross border traders, balancing unpaid care work and earning an income comes with increased heavy and unequal care responsibilities. This is due to the intricacies involved in trade activities such as working long hours, travelling long distances, and often being sole proprietors of their businesses, while at the same time facing the societal demands of caring for children, managing the homesteads, undertaking domestic chores and community responsibilities, among others. All these contribute to an unequal burden of care duties among women.  Women traders with young children for instance are often forced to move with them as they trade, a factor that is a deterrent to the amount of time the mothers can invest in their trade.

Women typically spend disproportionately more time on unpaid care work than men. Due to  gendered social norms that view unpaid care work as a female prerogative, women often spend significant part of their time on meeting the expectations of their domestic and reproductive roles. This in addition to their paid activities, thus creating the double heavy and unequal care responsibilities  of work for women.

Persistent gender inequalities in unpaid care work contribute to limited female labour force participation and wider gender wage gaps. In addition, unpaid care work hinders women's employment, perpetuates gender inequalities, and leads to precarious work for women. Gender norms dictate women's disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, constraining their time, mobility, and economic opportunities. Globally, a significant share of women of working age have been found to be unable to engage in paid work because of the heavy and unequal care responsibilities of their unpaid care and domestic work responsibilities  as compared to men.

 Using primary data collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions, and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, the paper shows that the women cross border traders face the same unpaid care responsibilities regardless of their specific trade activities. The women traders were found to be involved in various care activities irrespective of their source of income, their level of education or trade activity they are engaged in. The results further show that women traders spent between one hour to seven hours a day in care work, in addition to their trade activities.

The paper concludes that women cross border traders face the same unpaid care responsibilities in regardless of their status or specific trade activities. There is there for need for policy interventions that focus on easing the main care activities of childcare, cooking, access to water and energy as well as nursing ailing partners and family members. Such interventions may include supporting time saving technologies on energy and water, supporting subsidised child care facilities among others.

“It’s Like I’m Carrying the Whole Load Alone”: Time Use, Support Networks, and the Burden of Reproductive Labour Among Young Mothers in Urban India

Author: Aditi B. Prasad

Contributing author(s): Aparajita Chattopadhyay

In urban India, young mothers face significant time poverty as they navigate paid work, household responsibilities, and childcare. This study uses time-use data from 193 women with children under five in Delhi-NCR to examine how support from husbands, kin, and community resources shapes the time women spend on reproductive labour. Multivariate linear regression shows that while the husband's involvement modestly reduces women's housework time, support from female relatives and community-based domestic workers has a significantly greater impact. Structural equation modelling further reveals that husband's participation indirectly influences women's employment by reducing their domestic workload, highlighting the mediating role of time availability. However, even with spousal support, women continue to perform a larger share of unpaid work. Qualitative accounts reinforce these findings, with many employed mothers reporting emotional and physical burnout due to insufficient household support. The results underscore the need for multi-level interventions that go beyond individual households to include kin-based networks and accessible community support. By highlighting these inequalities in time use, the study advocates for policy shifts that recognise and redistribute reproductive labour to enable women's fuller participation in the labour market.

Work and Leisure Oriented Time Use Pattern among Male, Female and Third Gender

Author: Gopika Gopika J Sankar

Contributing author(s): R Lusome

Abstract

One of the longstanding social issues extending to everyday activity is gender-based inequality. An appropriate method to study gender inequality would be to observe how different gender spend their time on various activities. The core purpose of the study is to check if there is a significant difference in how different gender allocate their time to various activities. Another purpose of the study is to emphasise the time spent on work and leisure by different genders and to identify factors that impact an individual's work-life balance.

The study used the unit-level data from NSSO's First Time Use Survey 2019. The study sample is restricted to a population aged 15 years and above, comprising 382,228 persons, 192,266 males, 189,854 females, and 108 of the third gender. The average per person method is used to calculate the mean time spent on nine major activities. Work-oriented and leisure-oriented time allocation has been defined as the population above one standard deviation of the mean time spent on the activities. Stratified logistic regressions based on gender have been used to understand the influence of factors on work and leisure time allocation.  

Results show that males spent substantially more time on employment and related activities, while females spent substantially more time on unpaid domestic and caregiving services. Consuming meals constitutes the second most time-intensive activity for males and the third gender, whereas meal preparation ranks as the second most time-consuming activity for females. Regression results show that females are more likely to be work-oriented (Odds Ratio = 3.741), and males are more likely to be leisure-oriented. The odds for work orientation are as high as nine times for currently married females as compared to never-married females. The odds of leisure orientation are significantly higher for urban residents and higher levels of education than their respective counterparts. The top ten time-consuming activities of the females are confined within the walls of the house, and thus rightfully constitute the cornerstone for the smooth functioning and well-being of the household. A reassessment and revaluation of unpaid domestic and caregiving would go a long way in enhancing the well-being of females and the households.

Key Words: Gender, Time Use, Work orientation, Leisure orientation.

Fiddling with time. How does the transition from summer to winter time and from winter to summer time affect patterns of time use?

Author: Ignace Glorieux

Contributing author(s): Anaïs Glorieux

In the 1970s, many European countries, influenced by the prevailing energy crisis, introduced Daylight Saving Time (DST). The idea was that energy would be saved if sunlight was better synchronized with people's activity patterns. Since then, the discussion about the pros and cons of DST has not stopped. Various studies suggest that the energy savings as a result of summer time are minimal or even that it leads to an increase in energy consumption. Critics also point to the fact that summer time leads to more darkness in the morning hours, which is considered dangerous for school children who go to school in the dark. Proponents, on the other hand, point to the fact that more light in the evening would improve visibility during rush hours and thus reduce the number of traffic accidents. The extra evening light would also lead to a decrease in crime. The most debated argument, however, concerns the negative impact on health because the introduction of summer and winter time would disrupt sleep. Especially the transition to summer time, the shift in spring, is often linked to sleep deprivation, disruption of the circadian rhythm, and an increased risk of health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, and mood disorders. This mini jet lag would have negative consequences for health and productivity. Some studies also point to an increase in traffic accidents due to sleep deprivation and fatigue immediately after the transition to summer time. The debate on the influence of DST on health is also lively and often emotionally charged in the media. Some suggest that it is dangerous to fiddle with time twice a year.

In this contribution, we examine to what extent the introduction of summer and winter time has an influence on people's behavior patterns. What happens in the weekend when summer time is introduced and there is one hour less available? Does the lost time (completely) come at the expense of sleep, or are there other activities that suffer? And what about the weekend of the introduction of winter time, when the night and thus the weekend lasts an hour longer? Also the timing of activities the day after the introduction of summer and winter time is of interest. Do we see a shift, or are activities such as lunch or bedtime immediately synchronized with the new clock time?

We try to answer these questions using the data of the Flemish time use study conducted between January 2013 and February 2014 among a random sample of 3,260 respondents. The respondents kept an online diary for 7 consecutive days in which they recorded all their activities minute by minute. In this study, 64 respondents kept their diary during the transition from winter to summer time (March 31, 2013), and 46 respondents during the transition from summer to winter time (October 27, 2013). By comparing their time use during this transition with their time spent the days before and after, and with the time use patterns of respondents who kept their diary in the weekend before and after the transition to summer or winter time, we try to gain insight into the influence of this transition on people's time use patterns.

Gender Division of Labor in the Making: Unpaid Household Work of Children in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Author: Chimedlkham Zorigtbaatar

Contributing author(s): NA

This paper examines gender division of domestic labor between children aged 6 to 11 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, utilizing original fieldwork data collected in the fall of 2018. The fieldwork generated time-use data on household tasks performed by younger children and their time spent on unpaid household work, homework, and play-related activities. Examining the correlates of time spent on unpaid household work through Tobit regression, estimation indicates that girls spend approximately 46 minutes more on housework chores a day when compared to boys. Although regression results on time spent on homework and play are not statistically significant, findings suggest that girls spend more time on homework while they spend less time on play in comparison to boys. The findings suggest the existence of a gendered division of housework at a young age. 

A Review of Emerging Time-Use Patterns: Exploring the Measurement and Interrelation of Multitasking, Flexibility, and Fragmentation

Author: Qiuju Xue

Contributing author(s): Baiba Pudane, Maarten Kroesen

Our time-use patterns emerge from and are shaped by significant and profound societal changes, including the rise of information and communication technologies, the expansion of telework, and growing supply and demand for customised services. We define time-use patterns as individuals’ underlying time allocation characteristics. This paper focuses on three emerging time-use patterns: multitasking (engaging in multiple activities simultaneously), flexibility (the ability to adapt or change one's schedule), and fragmentation (the division of time into smaller, disjointed segments). 

Despite their growing prevalence, and evidence pointing to their significant impacts on productivity and well-being, existing studies often rely on inconsistent definitions and divergent measurement approaches, making cross-study comparisons and generalisations difficult. Moreover, the interrelationships among multitasking, flexibility, and fragmentation remain largely unexplored. Their potential overlap and reinforcing dynamics (e.g., does greater flexibility lead to more fragmentation?) are poorly understood. 

To address these gaps, this presentation will provide a comprehensive review of how these time-use patterns are defined and measured in current research. It will also explore the relationships between multitasking, flexibility, and fragmentation using data from the 2016 Netherlands Time Use Survey (TBO). The results will help advance the understanding of increasingly complex human behaviour and provide a foundation for designing evidence-based public policies that support well-being, equity, and productivity in rapidly evolving social and technological contexts.

Working from Home, Divisions of Household Labor, and Subjective Time Stress

Author: Lyn Lyn Craig

Contributing author(s): Federico Zilio, Irma Mooi-Reci

Paid work at or from home (WFH) jumped during COVID-19 lockdowns and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Some research identifies positive effects of WFH on work-family management, or suggests it helps parents work for pay whilst simultaneously caring for young children. However, such multitasking can be stressful and research into the intra-household experience of WFH, particularly of men, is sparse. We contribute here by considering the frequency and intensity of WFH, rather than viewing it as binary, and by analysing the effects of the WFH arrangements of couples in combination, to examine how WFH affects the amount and gender shares of paid and unpaid work, and the subjective time pressure of men and women, in dual-earner households.

We use the Household, Income & Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, an ongoing longitudinal panel that from 2001 has annually collected data from 7,682 Australian households and 13,914 individuals aged over 15. Our key explanatory variable is WFH, defined as the proportion of paid work hours worked from home (0-100% of total paid work time). Dependent variables are total paid and unpaid work, unpaid household labor (care, housework, errands) and commuting, and subjective time pressure (scale 1-5). We also examine how effects have varied over time, comparing the periods prior to, during, and immediately after, the pandemic. We run fixed effect models by gender, controlling marital status, age, employment arrangements, occupation, industry, health, age of youngest child, household income, hourly wage, number of household adults, number of household children, wave (time) and (unless part of the dependent variable) working hours.

For most, WFH increases total paid and unpaid work, but there is considerable variation by proportion of WFH, and contrasting gender patterns. Women’s share of unpaid work decreases only if her partner works 50% WFH. If both spouses work 50+% from home, women’s share of unpaid work is unchanged. Compared to no WFH, time pressure is higher for those doing up to 60% WFH, and for women, it is lower for those doing 60+% WFH. Effects are strongest for mothers with young children. Regarding spousal effects, women who work 50+% WFH report less time pressure regardless of their partner’s share of WFH. Women who do no WFH also feel less time pressure if their partner works 50+% WFH. No corresponding results are found for men, whose subjective time pressure is unrelated to their spouse’s WFH patterns.

Objective and Subjective Time Poverty in South Africa: A Gender Comparison

Author: Priyanka Harrichurran

Contributing author(s): Claire Vermaak, Colette Muller

Understanding time poverty, in which individuals have insufficient time for rest and leisure after doing their paid and unpaid work activities, is crucial because it affects individuals' physical and mental well-being, productivity, and overall quality of life. Time poverty, measured at the individual level, also reveals gender and household inequalities that were previously hidden. Despite this, time poverty is understudied, especially in the developing country context, with limited existing research analysing objective time poverty by comparing reported time use to a calculated threshold. This study expands our understanding of the time poor by researching a subjective measure of time poverty, based on individuals’ perception of busyness. Using data from the most recent South African 2010 Time Use Survey, this study (i) descriptively examines differences between both measures – and (ii) estimates correlates of both measures. Objective and subjective measures largely recognise the same share of individuals as time poor, however, about 57 per cent of those that feel time poor are not objectively time poor. This is important since the well-being of these subjectively time poor individuals will still be negatively affected, even though they are precluded from the objective measure. Multinomial probit models with a four-category dependent variable (non-poor by both measures, subjectively non-poor but objectively poor, subjectively poor but objectively non-poor, and time poor by both measures) are estimated, by gender. Marginal effects reveal some significant gender differences with household composition/type and parental status being important correlates of objective and subjective time poverty. Despite some women being objectively time poverty, extra household members do not actually make them feel time poor, highlighting a certain level of social conditioning around the responsibilities of women. The implications of time poverty on well-being are substantial and can lead to increased stress, reduced life satisfaction, and adverse mental health outcomes. Addressing gender and other norms will not only minimise misalignments between measures but also importantly inform policy aimed at alleviating time poverty.

Gender, work and households in South Africa

Author: Mahlatse Rabothata

Contributing author(s): Odile Mackett

A large segment of the literature on paid and unpaid labour is written from the perspective of the institutions in which they take place. The ways in which institutions are designed and divides labour amongst different groups of people is underpinned by power dynamics amongst those who form part of such institutions. In the case of paid labour, the perspective of the labour market is considered, while in the case of unpaid labour, the household is considered. Yet, due to data limitations and availability, much more is known about what happens in the labour market and how its structure is related to paid labour, than is known about the household and its structure is related to the labour that takes place in it. While both institutions are equally important, the household is invariably more vital as it is linked to survival for many. The household plays a key role in filling gaps, when other institutions, such as governments or the labour market, cannot do so. These gaps tend to be filled through various forms of unpaid labour. For instance, if medical services are not available, people are cared for within the home. Where educational services are not available, children are educated within the home. This labour is often performed unpaid and overwhelmingly by the women in the home. But less is known about the nuances of the circumstances under which this unpaid labour is performed, most notably the composition of the household. This research will explore how household composition is associated with labour and the types of labour which tends to be performed within households, using the latest wave of the South African Time Use Survey. Given that household composition is linked to socio-cultural and socioeconomic circumstances, this will inform a debate on the broader ramifications of how variables which are related to household composition (such as infrastructure availability, unemployment), may also be related to the nature and the extent of women’s unpaid labour.

Fathers Who Care and Fathers Who Don’t: Exploring the Absence and Intensity of Korean Fathers’ Childcare through Time-Use Analysis

Author: Eun-hye Kang

Contributing author(s): Ki-Soo Eun

Korean men’s participation in unpaid labor remains among the lowest globally. However,

recent data shows gradual increases, reflecting evolving gender norms and heightened

expectations for parental involvement – particularly in child rearing, given Korean’s strong

emphasis on children’s education. Yet, societal barriers such as work-oriented culture and

rising childcare costs limit father’s family time. Fathers still face significant breadwinning

pressure despite increasing calls for a more equitable division of labor between genders.

     Against this complex backdrop, this study investigates the heterogeneity in Korean

fathers’ caregiving participation by moving beyond average time-use analyses and instead

classifying fathers according to the degree of their childcare engagement. Using the 2019

Korean Time Use Survey, this study investigates: (1) Which fathers remain entirely

disengaged from childcare (or are unable to participate)? and conversely, (2) Which fathers

are actively striving to balance paid work and childcare? This study first analyzes the

characteristics of fathers in each group using descriptive statistics and employs logistic

regression to identify socio-demographic determinants. By applying sequence analysis and

cluster analysis, it classifies fathers into distinctive patterns of their 24-hour time diaries to

provide deeper insight into how they spend their daily time with and without childcare.

     By capturing the contrasting realities of fathers, the study provides a nuanced

understanding of fatherhood in contemporary Korea, and offers insight into targeted policy

interventions that can support the quality of the life of Korean fathers and their work-family

balance.

Household welfare and Consumption in Poland and Turkey - Analysis of Cross Section Data on Monetary and Time Use

Author: Jacek Jankiewicz

Contributing author(s): Przemysław Garsztka

The domestic production research briefly aims to measure households’ production of goods and services through the unpaid work of their members. The main reason is that, if household production is omitted, the economic welfare of the population does not include all goods and services and is therefore incomplete. The matching procedure is used to match data from two sources - HBS and TUS. The measure of inequality in economic resources among the population necessitates the development of a comprehensive calculation of time use productivity by estimating full income (market and non-market income) or full consumption (market and non-market goods) per hour of work (both paid and unpaid). We calculate the value of time estimated by means of a home production model to propose a valuation of domestic production based on the household’s time budget. Adding this value of domestic production to the wage obtained by the household in the labour markets gives an estimate of the household’s total production, leaving room for the calculation of its total labour productivity and for further estimation of an enlarged GDP.

Enlargements of GDP implies considering the added value of the activity made by households in informal markets, the production of public goods and services, and the value of the domestic production by households. Econometric analysis of the statistical material collected allow for drawing conclusions on how Polish and Turkish households combine goods purchased on the market and the time to maximize their welfare. The results show that the monetary value of time spent on domestic activities is highly correlated with the socioeconomic characters of the households.

The valuation of an hour spent in the non-market sphere in Poland, for women, is lower on average by 2.3 percent compared to men. The average valuation of time for those with primary education is 44.12% lower than for those with higher education. In contrast, the time of those with secondary education was valued 27.65% lower than that of the best educated. A clear difference in the monetary value of non-market time was also noted according to the occupational activity of the respondents. The self-employed have a time valuation 11.68% higher than that of the unemployed; those employed on a contract of employment (if they work full time) have a time price 9.14% higher than the latter.

Unsupervised Learning for Enhanced Time Use Matching: Evidence from Turkish and Polish Household Surveys

Author: Armagan Aktuna-Gunes

Time use data imputation presents several challenges, notably due to the infrequent collection of Time Use Surveys (TUS) and the non-alignment of variables between TUS and Budget Surveys (BS). Traditional matching methods, often based on regression frameworks, assume zero partial correlations between common variables, leading to information loss and smoothed expenditure patterns that fail to capture real behavioral variances. This study proposes an unsupervised machine learning-based methodology to overcome these limitations and achieve more accurate and less biased time use predictions. The approach is implemented in three stages. First, identifying and pre-processing the common variables in both surveys. Second, applying unsupervised learning methods—such as K-means Clustering, Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM), DBSCAN, and Hierarchical Clustering—to classify subpopulations and reveal latent structures in the data, and comparing these results with traditional methods such as regression and Rubin statistics (1986). Third, validating the models through the prediction of individual time use in the BS by applying parameters trained on the TUS. This research uses TUS and BS datasets for Turkey and Poland. Machine learning techniques enable the incorporation and control of a significantly larger set of variables than conventional econometric models, thereby enhancing the precision of individual classification and improving the robustness of imputation results.

Bivariate Relative Poverty Line for Income and Time Poverty: Application to the Indian Time Use Survey

Author: Sneha Lamba

Contributing author(s): Franziska Dorn

Poverty measurement in India has recently shifted its focus from income or consumption poverty

to multidimensional poverty. Although, the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) considers mul-

tiple deprivations in terms of health, education and living standards it does not consider time use.

Time use is a crucial dimension of household living standards and the gendered vulnerability to

poverty. Time use allows us to measure women’s dual burden of paid and unpaid labor, which

contributes to household living standards but restricts their leisure time. This paper applies the

Bivariate Relative Poverty Line (BRPL) approach to jointly assess deprivations in income and

time-use using data from the Indian Time Use Survey 2019. We construct BRPL at the household

level for unpaid household work and income. Our preliminary findings for 25% quantile level show

that 9.4% of Indian households fall below the BRPL for unpaid household work and income, yet

are above conventional univariate poverty thresholds. We find that a higher proportion of Hindu

households are below the BRPL but above the univariate poverty thresholds compared to the

other religious groups. We find that a 9.5% of households belonging to Scheduled Tribes, 8.3%

of households belonging to Scheduled Castes, 7.5% of households belonging to Other Backward

Castes, and 4.5% of households belonging to General Castes were below BRPL but above the

univariate poverty thresholds. This suggests that caste has an important role to play in the time

and income poverty based deprivation.

Unpaid Eldercare and Carer Well-being: Evidence from Ghana

Author: Mieke Meurs

Contributing author(s): Mieke Meurs

Care, or the activities and relationships that meet the physical, cognitive, psychological and emotional needs of people (Addatti, et. al., 2018) has sprung to the forefront of global policy in recent years (UN Women, 2023; IMF, 20220).  Care, and appropriate care policy, are increasingly recognized as central to the achievement of human rights, gender equality and positive macroeconomic outcomes. 

Beginning in the 1980s, the development of time use data has improved our understanding of the vast amount of time spent by men and women in unpaid care (Folbre, 2021).  Less is known about how unpaid care provision affects caregivers, and this research gap is even bigger in developing countries where state-support for care is not only limited but the market for care is also very thin.  Scholarly literature in this area has focused mainly on the ways that unpaid care provision interacts with labor force participation and employment (Maurer-Fazio, et. al. 2011;  Oshio and Usui, 2017), potentially contribution to gender inequalities in participation, pay and economic independence.  A smaller literature has examined the relationship between unpaid care provision and caregiver well-being.  Evidence suggests that although childcare is time-consuming and can be exhausting, people also derive pleasure from performing it (Riley and Kiger, 1999; Stevens, et. al., 2005). The relatively few studies on eldercare and carer well-being suggest that while there can be emotional benefits from engaging competently with the elder, the provision of eldercare can also take a significant physical, mental, and financial toll (Amirkhanyan and Wolf, 2003; Hensley and King, 2022). 

Much of the analysis of the relationship between unpaid care provision and caregiver well-being comes from Europe, the United States, or the higher income countries of East Asia (Meurs, 2025).  Populations around the globe are aging (Sciubba, 2020), however, and care of older persons is becoming an increasingly important policy issue in middle-income countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa (Coe, 2022; Hoffman and Pype, 2016). 

In Ghana, the share of adult population over 60 years is rising quickly, from 6.7% in 2010 to an expected 9.8% in 2050.   Previous analysis has found that Ghana, like other middle-income countries which have been included in discussions of care regimes (Soma et. al., 2011), has a familialist regime, with limited state support for care--mainly in the form of preschool provision.  Care of older persons is explicitly the responsibility of families.  Women do the vast majority of unpaid care, although men contribute more to care of older persons than children and there are significant differences in unpaid care provision by age, between rural and urban households, and by economic welfare quintile.  Household care needs are negatively associated with employment for both women and men, although the negative relationship is stronger for women  (Boakye-Yiadom et. al., 2025).   

In this paper, we extend previous work on unpaid care in Ghana, using the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey by Yale-ISSER (2009, 2013/2014, and 2018/2019) to examine the relationship between care provision and caregiver wellbeing.  The EGC-ISSER socioeconomic panel household survey is a nationally representative household survey covering all the sixteen regions of Ghana. Currently, there are three waves of the survey, carried out in 2009/10, 2013/2014, and 2018/2019, respectively. The data covers a wide range of socio-economic issues (including employment, education, migration, land, and farm and non-farm enterprises) and, most importantly for our analysis, collects data on time spent in a set of key unpaid household activities including time spent on elder, child, and sick care from three household members (head, first spouse, and one other person), information about health and need for assistance with two Activities of Daily Living (carrying a bucket of water and bathing oneself) for all household members, and a set of psychological well-being measures for all household members. 

The sampling method, which collects time use data from the head, first spouse, and one randomly selected other member, may over-sample older men and women.  For this reason, after briefly describing the familialist care regime in Ghana, we draw on previous work to describe who provides unpaid child, elder and sick care in Ghana (distribution by gender and age groups, as well as urban/rural differences and welfare quintiles).  We note that while, as expected, women provide the vast majority of care, men start to provide more care when they reach the age when they are likely to marry and start families (men 25-44 spend 9 minutes more a day in care compared to men 20-24), and then a bit more later (11 minutes a day more 45-59 and 60-90, compared to men 20-24).  Men are more intensively involved in elder care, spending about as much time in elder care as childcare, females spend much more on childcare.

We then use the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey by Yale-ISSER (2009, 2013/2014, and 2018/2019) to examine the relationship between care provision and caregiver wellbeing.    Using a set of health and psychological outcomes from the health module, including general health and recent illnesses, and self-reported psychological outcomes including feeling tired, nervous, hopeless and depressed, we would construct a measure for caregivers’ well-being using either principal components or entropy weights.  

Our variable of interest is the reported time spent by the individual caring for older people.  However, there are established endogeneities between care provision and caregiver characteristics (Oshio and Usui, 2017). In the case of care for older persons, the person needing care may go to live with the person best able to care for them (or that person may come to live with them), and these may be people who are out of the labor force for a variety of reasons which could include factors included in our well-being measure. The panel nature of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey, as well as the rich set of data collected, allow us to account for many possible confounding effects.  Our analysis will include individual fixed effects, to control for individual preferences regarding care provision and alternative uses of time.  We will examine the role of other factors related to well-being by including measures of household consumption, and the numerous aspects of the overall care context of the household (the number of children and older people of different age groups, people with needing support with the activities of daily living, or having recent illnesses and doctor or hospital, as well as the number of other adult potential caregivers and their employment status, the housing quality/infrastructure, which can facilitate or complicate care provision, and whether the older person care was provided simultaneously with childcare), and the employment status of the respondent.  Beyond simply being controls for possible confounding factors in the relationship between care provision and well-being, these household characteristics and the well-being of caregivers are important parts of the analysis, pointing to channels through which policy makers might support carers.

Given the evidence of intersectional differences in care provision, the analysis will be conducted separately for men and women, but we will also examine differences in the gender dynamics in rural versus urban households, between carers of different life stages, and for carers in households of different living standards (using consumption quintiles).  These variations, too, are key to the development of a more supportive familialist care regime in Ghana.  

One limitation of the otherwise rich data set is the possible over-sampling of older persons in the time use data (and thus our sample), as the time use data is collected from the reported household head and main spouse, as well as a randomly selected third person.  To address this limitation and contextualize our results, our analysis will compare the characteristics of our sample to those in the full roster of adult household members and, if indicated, compare results based on the full sample of respondents with results based only on the randomly selected third person.

References

Amirkhanyan, A. A., & Wolf, D. A. (2003). Caregiver stress and noncaregiver stress: Exploring the pathways of psychiatric morbidity. The Gerontologist, 43(6), 817-827.

Boakye-Yiadom, Louis, Gloria Afful-Mensah and Mahmud Yesuf (2025). “Care Infrastructure and Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Study from Ghana,” under review.

Folbre, N. (2021).  Quantifying Care: Design and Harmonization Issues In Time-Use Surveys,

New York: UN Women.  Government of Ghana (2010). “National Ageing Policy – aging with security and dignity, ”https://www.mogcsp.gov.gh/mdocs-posts/national-ageing-policy-ageing-with-security-and-dignity/  Accessed on April 20, 2021

Hensley, C., & King, E. (2022). The Quality of Life of Family Caregivers in South Korea. CWE-GAM Methodology Report: 22-01 Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE) American University, Washington, DC DOI: 10.17606/02tf-dm56

Hoffman, Jaco and Katrien Pype. (2016) “Introduction: Spaces and practices of care for older people in Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Jaco Hoffman and Katrien Pype, eds., Ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Spaces and Practices of Care Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press.

Maurer-Fazio, M., Connelly, R., Chen, L., & Tang, L. (2011). Childcare, Eldercare, and Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Urban China, 1982-2000. Journal of Human Resources, 46(2), 261-294.

Meurs, Mieke (2025). “Introduction: Care Regimes in Middle-Income Countries,” under review.

Oshio, T. and Usui, E. (2017) ‘Informal Parental Care and Female Labour Supply in Japan’, Applied Economics Letters 24(9): 635–8.

Riley, P. J., & Kiger, G. (1999). Moral discourse on domestic labor: gender, power, and identity in families. The Social Science Journal, 36(3), 541-548.

Sciubba, Jennifer (2020). Population Aging as a Global Issue,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, August 27.  accessed March 20, 2025.

Soma, Naoko, Junko Yamashita, and Raymond K.H. Chan.  2011. “Comparative Framework for Care Regime Analysis in East Asia,” International Journal of Social Welfare 30:111-121.

Stevens, D. P., Kiger, G., & Mannon, S. E. (2005). Domestic labor and marital satisfaction: How much or how satisfied?. Marriage & Family Review, 37(4), 49-67.

Unveiling Temporal Injustices and the Deservedness Paradox in Canadian Immigration Framework

Author: Georgette Morris

Immigration is integral to Canadian national identity and often looked to as a luminary, globally in the field of (im)-migration. As it stands, it is known that the migration programming, especially the Temporary Foreign Worker Programs (TFWP) inherently are problematic and rooted in inequality, due to the parasitic nature of globalization and economic conditions that penalize the Global South and favour the Global North. It is uncertain how deep the entrenchment of valuation, inequity and deservedness contributes to further economic alimentation and discrimination for future racialized generations, irrespective if directly connected to a TFWP programme. This work attempts to consider equity and deservedness to the literature as a feature of temporality and the experiential components of migration. This research is vital to unpacking and understanding that time; and temporality do not reconcile inequalities, and this valuation system based on working hard is fraught. Using the approach of the push and pull factors, migration and a social process and dual market labour theory, the research seeks to comprehend this phenomenon. The implications, work to result ins change in the structuring of these programs to fairly treat applicants.Ideally, an overhaul of current programs reassessed for equity, deservedness and inclusion would be a goal.

Time use data as a complement to travel survey analyses: six key features

Author: Ugo Lachapelle

Travel surveys are broadly used in travel behavior research. Evolutions in data collection and modeling strategies have provided important improvements over time including the development of activity-based travel models. But in most travel surveys, what occurs between trips remains largely undocumented. In the context of increasing participation in virtual activities, time use surveys provide complementary information that can help assess activity and trip substitution.

In this presentation, we explore six useful qualities of time use data that complement what can be achieved using travel surveys. Past and current research using the Canadian General Social Survey’s time use modules as well as other similar surveys are presented to provide examples of use of these qualities and the policy implications of such research.

These qualities include (1) More detailed categories of destinations and possibility to combine activity and location codes; (2) Ability to classify individuals based on diary-derived lifestyle characteristics rather than mere socio-demographic characteristics; (3) Actual accounts of activity substitution within a study period; (4) Greater harmonization efforts that can lead to cross national policy comparison; (5) Data rich context environment with respect to lifestyles; and (6) broader territorial coverage than metropolitan travel surveys.

Projects on telework, grocery shopping behavior, trip substitution by online activities, walking and transit use as well as the implications of growing single person households in Canada will provide case examples of these features.

The presentation will also cover characteristics of time use surveys that create limitations for travel research and will point to untapped opportunities for greater use of time use surveys in travel research.

Time use statistics and the SDGs: exploring gaps, opportunities and new directions in the SDG indicator framework

Author: Johanna Giczi

This presentation examines the role and relevance of time use statistics (TUS) in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on their current and future potential in indicator development and policy monitoring. The first part provides an overview of the EU’s SDG indicator set, including a review of recent policy developments and the introduction of new priorities under the European Green Deal and other strategic frameworks. It also offers a comparative analysis of the EU and UN SDG indicator frameworks, highlighting areas of alignment and divergence—especially in relation to social, gender, and time-related dimensions.

The second part of the presentation focuses on the current status of the time use survey in SDG monitoring and presents the state of play of the Unpaid work indicator among the EU SDG indicators. While time use data is essential for understanding gender equality, care responsibilities, and work-life balance, its systematic integration into EU-level SDG reporting remains limited, particularly in terms of consistent time series and comparability.

In the third part, the presentation explores the untapped potential of TUS for the development of new, policy-relevant SDG indicators. It argues that time use data can play a critical role not only in advancing social and gender-related SDGs (such as SDG 5, 8, and 10), but also in enriching emerging environment-related social indicators, such as those capturing sustainable lifestyles, commuting patterns, and time spent in nature or in low-impact activities. From this perspective, time use surveys offer a valuable, underused resource for better linking human well-being with environmental sustainability in the EU’s future SDG monitoring framework.

The Patriarchal Time Regime: Unveiling gender inequalities in time use and social norms

Author: Johanna Giczi

This presentation introduces the concept of the patriarchal time regime as a new theoretical framework in gender studies and time use research. The approach highlights how dominant time norms – such as linearity, productivity, and continuous availability – reflect societal expectations imposed on men, while time use patterns typically associated with women, especially unpaid caregiving and household work, are often rendered invisible or secondary.

The presentation examines the functioning of the patriarchal time regime through the relationship between paid work – unpaid work – time allocated to biological needs (e.g. sleep, recovery). The analysis is based on data from the Hungarian Time Use Survey and specifically looks at how this relationship unfolds in the cases of men and women. The research demonstrates how the division of household and caregiving work not only affects the amount of time spent, but also influences the quality of time and the ability to meet biological needs.

The study also introduces a methodological innovation, combining quantitative time use analysis with theoretical and normative approaches, offering a more nuanced understanding of how gender inequalities are structured in the dimension of time. The concept of the patriarchal time regime thus opens new perspectives in time policy and social policy thinking.

Sleep Hygiene and Teen Sleep Patterns: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey 2003-2023

Author: Eric Eide

Contributing author(s): James Cardon, Mark Showalter

This study investigates changes in sleep hygiene among American teenagers by analyzing how they spend the hour preceding nighttime sleep. Using data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we focus on adolescents aged 15 to 19 over a 20-year period from 2003 to 2023—a span marked by transformative technological and social developments, including the widespread adoption of smartphones, high-speed internet, and online multiplayer gaming. These changes are hypothesized to significantly influence teen pre-sleep behavior and, by extension, sleep quality.

We examine nationally representative time use data to identify trends in pre-sleep activities and how these vary by context and demographic characteristics. Specifically, we explore differences in time use before sleep during the school year versus summer break, and on school days versus weekends. We also conduct subgroup analyses by gender, age, income level, household structure (e.g., single vs. dual-parent homes), and urban versus rural residence.

These findings contribute to the broader literature on sleep hygiene and adolescent well-being by providing new empirical evidence on how the digital age has reshaped pre-sleep behavior. As sleep quality is critical for teen development, these trends have implications for health, academic performance, and policy efforts to promote healthier bedtime routines. This research underscores the need for continued monitoring of adolescent time use patterns and consideration of targeted interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of modern technology on sleep hygiene.

Measuring and Understanding Time Poverty in South Korea: Socioeconomic Disparities, Methodological Debates, and Life-Stage Implications (1999–2019)

Author: Sarah Rhee

Contributing author(s): Ki-Soo Eun

Measuring and Understanding Time Poverty in South Korea: Socioeconomic Disparities, Methodological Debates, and Life-Stage Implications (1999–2019)

This study investigates the evolution and multidimensional nature of time poverty in South Korea using nationally representative data from the Korea Time Use Survey (KTUS), spanning two decades from 1999 to 2019. By conducting a longitudinal and comparative analysis across five KTUS waves, the research reveals how time poverty has transformed in both magnitude and distribution. Particular emphasis is placed on how socioeconomic factors—such as occupational category, employment status (e.g., full-time vs. part-time), educational attainment, and household income level—shape individuals’ exposure to time constraints over time.

A central focus of the study is the methodological heterogeneity in defining and measuring time poverty. Drawing on an extensive review of the literature, the research evaluates multiple existing approaches: (1) absolute thresholds based on the lack of discretionary time; (2) relative thresholds using benchmarks like less than 50% of the median leisure time; and (3) labor-time-based definitions, which classify individuals as time-poor when their paid work time significantly exceeds social norms (e.g., 1.5 to 2 times the median). Moreover, the study introduces and operationalizes continuous indices—such as the time deficit ratio—as well as subjective indicators, including perceived time scarcity. By empirically applying these different metrics to various population subgroups (e.g., gender, employment type, and family status), the research raises critical questions about whether a universal threshold can validly capture the experience of time poverty across diverse demographic and cultural settings. The analysis is especially attentive to the specificities of the Korean context, where long working hours and persistent gender inequalities in unpaid labor challenge the applicability of global benchmarks derived from Western societies.

The study also addresses the growing disconnect between objective and subjective measures of time deprivation. Building on recent findings that individuals often report increasing time scarcity even when actual leisure time is rising, the research explores how factors such as multitasking, time fragmentation, and blurred work-life boundaries contribute to the perception of time pressure. Using both diary-based time use data and subjective self-assessments, the study examines whether this "time paradox" holds true within the Korean socio-cultural environment.

Lastly, the analysis extends to the psychological and well-being implications of time poverty across different life stages, particularly parenthood. While previous research suggests that parents of young children—especially those with children under the age of ten—are among the most time-poor, the relationship between time poverty and life satisfaction remains contested. This study examines whether time constraints necessarily correlate with lower life satisfaction, or whether emotional rewards from caregiving, strengthened family cohesion, and personal fulfillment may offset time-based stress. By comparing subjective well-being across life course stages (singlehood, marriage without children, and parenting), the research offers new insights into the conditions under which time poverty may be mitigated or even rendered meaningful.

Through its multi-method approach and contextual sensitivity, this study contributes both theoretically and empirically to the global discourse on time poverty, offering critical reflections on how to define, measure, and respond to time scarcity in high-pressure, industrialized societies like South Korea.

Crossing Boundaries and Time: An Exploration of Time Allocation and Emotional Well-Being of Immigrants in the United States

Author: Hoxhaj Rezart

Contributing author(s): Nicola Coniglio; Raffaele Lagravinese

This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native-born individuals in the United States, exploring the relationship between daily activities  and feelings of happiness, stress, and meaningfulness. We analyse the entire range of daily activities and their durations, utilizing data from the American Time-Use Survey (ATUS) Well-Being modules. The results reveal that when viewed through the evaluation lenses of the general US population, immigrants engage in less happy, more stressful, and less meaningful activities compared to natives. However, when considering subjective emotional assessments, immigrants are more optimistic and perceive these activities as associated with higher levels of happiness and meaningfulness.The study also finds evidence of emotional assimilation over time, with happiness disparities between immigrants and natives diminishing.However, this process appears incomplete for second-generation immigrants.

The secret of Finnish happiness – results from the mood indicator of the time use survey

Author: Juha Haaramo

According to the World Happiness Report, Finland has been the happiest country in the world for eight consecutive years by 2025. It has been speculated abroad that the happiness of Finns could be linked to, for example, sauna culture. Is there any basis for this speculation, or are other factors perhaps responsible for explaining the happiness of Finns?

In 2009, a committee led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, which considered reforming the measurement of economic and social development, recommended that time use surveys should include questions about time-specific emotional experiences. The trend is based on a long philosophical tradition that individuals themselves are the best experts on their own happiness and perceived well-being. This was stated, among others, in sociologist Erik Allardt’s classic work “Having, Loving, Being,” published in the 1970s.

Well-being is something we all value individually and evaluate subjectively. The presentation looks at our emotional day as well as differences between days of the week. The relationship between different activities and moods is also discussed. The presentation also examines the connections between various variables (e.g., demographics, health) and subjective well-being or perceived happiness, based on statistical modeling.

How people experience positive and negative emotions was measured for the first time in Finland on an episode-by-episode basis in Statistics Finland's latest time use survey. The latest information is obtained with Statistics Finland's Time Use Survey that was carried out between September 2020 and September 2021. The target population consisted of the household population aged over 10.

Key words: happiness, emotions, moods, SWB, time use, quality of life,  well-being

Gendered Causal Effects of Time Investment on Academic Achievement and Educational Pathways: A Panel Data Analysis Using Instrumental Variables

Author: Yuko Nozaki

This study investigates the long-term causal effects of time investment during childhood and adolescence on academic performance and educational pathways, focusing on gender differences. Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st Century (2001 Cohort), a nationally representative panel study conducted in Japan, the analysis examines how time spent by parents (mothers and fathers separately) and children (e.g., study time, sleep duration) influences self-reported academic outcomes and university enrollment patterns. Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) is first applied to identify developmental trajectories of time investment, using gender-specific models justified by theoretical considerations and empirical model fit. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation strategy addresses potential endogeneity, incorporating instrumental variables such as family structure, parental working hours, and local educational resources. The findings highlight gender differences in the effects of time use and suggest directions for policy design to support children’s academic development within the family and school context.

Work in South Africa: Analysis of Workdays, Hours, Schedules and the Timing of Work

Author: Andrew Kerr

Contributing author(s): Andrew Kerr

The concepts of labour supply and work are ultimately about the time people spend doing labour activities. In most developed countries, the rise of the 24-hour and gig economies has altered work structures by replacing traditional nine-to-five jobs and allowing for more flexible working hours (Donovan, Bradley, and Shimabukuru, 2016; Katz and Krueger, 2019; Presser, 1999). While this flexibility can improve work-life balance, working non-standard work schedules and times over prolonged periods can have negative effects on the well-being of workers, families and society (Presser, 2005). However, existing labour supply studies mainly focus on weekly work hours, without delving thoroughly into work schedules and timing patterns (Hamermesh, 1996). This paper addresses this gap by examining workers’ labour supply through the lens of instantaneous work timing and scheduling patterns.

Using detailed time diary data from the 2010 South African Time Use Survey (TUS), this study analyses how workers allocate their time within a 24-hour period and measures the extent of non-standard work times. Additional data from the 2008–2019 Quarterly Labour Force Surveys (QLFS) contextualises broader labour supply trends, including hours worked per day, days per week, and the various work schedule types.

Given this type of analysis on labour supply and work timing has been extensively done in developed countries only, this paper focuses on the South African context. Through descriptive and regression analyses, the paper reveals that while most workers (95.8%) work during standard daytime hours, as many as 65% also work outside those hours, mainly in early mornings and evenings. However, only 16.6% of total daily work time occurs during these non-standard times. The descriptive analysis of weekly work schedules showed a notable trend toward standardisation: the share of workers with the conventional 8-hour day, 5-day week schedule increased significantly by 27% over the study period. This suggests that, contrary to global narratives around the rise of the 24-hour and gig economies, work schedules in South Africa were becoming more standardised. Overall, the findings offer limited empirical evidence of widespread adoption of non-standard work patterns in South Africa, before the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped global work practices.

Time use, Consumption, and Sustainable Development: Evidence from Seven Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Author: Sofia Topcu Madsen

Contributing author(s): Sinne Smed

An accurate understanding of household consumption and time use is essential for tracking progress on poverty, inequality, and other Sustainable Development Goals. When analysed together, time use and household expenditure data provide a comprehensive view of trade-offs between money and time, offering a nuanced perspective on poverty that goes beyond income metrics. For low- and middle-income countries, we test hypotheses on expenditures and time use related to six aspects of daily life: transport, personal care, recreation, home maintenance, food, and energy. Each aspect is selected for its relevance to sustainable development and is systematically linked to specific products and uses of time. This approach enables us to identify characteristics that make individuals particularly vulnerable in terms of lacking both time and money to meet specific living standards. E.g., in the case of transport (SDG 11.2: accessible and sustainable transport), if time and budget shares are both very high or low for individuals with certain characteristics, this may indicate that the individual has inadequate transportation option access. If, on the other hand, there is an increasing time use alongside a decreasing budget share with income, this may reflect a substitution between money and time. Our analyses are based on 0.53 million time use diaries and expenditures from 0.53 million households in Argentina, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda. We estimated systems of seemingly unrelated regressions and accounted for censoring at zero where relevant. Time use and household expenditure patterns varied notably by country, but the directions of household and individual effects were generally consistent. Rural households allocated higher budget shares to transport, and in many countries, also more time. Additionally, across countries, the budget share of food and the time women spent preparing food are higher in households in lower socioeconomic groups. Both examples of results underscore the need for targeted support to address the specific challenges faced by rural populations and by women in lower socioeconomic groups. Cross-country variations suggest that policies addressing sustainable development from this multidimensional perspective should be tailored to local contexts and indicate a need for further exploration into the cultural and structural factors.

Beyond GDP: Why Extended SNA Matters for Child Labour Research

Author: Juana Lamote de Grignon Pérez

Most global child labour estimates only account for activities within the SNA production boundary, excluding unpaid domestic and caregiving work — so-called extended SNA (ESNA) activities. This omission persists for two main reasons: first, ESNA activities are not consistently recognized as ‘work’ in the same way as SNA activities; and second, limited data availability makes cross-country estimation challenging. However, recent ICLS resolutions emphasize the need to consider ESNA when measuring child labour.

This paper argues for the inclusion of ESNA activities in child labour measurement and outlines four key reasons. First, ESNA tasks represent a substantial share of children’s time. Second, many of these activities are intrinsically hazardous. Third, they often interfere with children’s rest and schooling — and both characteristics are core criteria for classifying a productive activity as child labour. And fourth, the burden of ESNA work is highly gendered, falling disproportionately on girls — making their exclusion from measurement a matter of gender inequality.

The paper uses time-use survey data from India, China, and several African countries — including South Africa — to quantitatively explore the four motives mentioned above. It concludes by reflecting on the consequences of incorporating ESNA into child labour estimates.

THE METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF TIME USE SURVEY TO MEASURE THE WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Author: Evrim Sultan

Contributing author(s): Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlknur YÜKSEL-KAPTANOĞLU

The aim of this study is to understand the methodological contributions of Time Use Survey diary data for measuring work-life balance in Turkey. For comparison, other data sources were selected according to the criteria of having national estimates, conducted by official institutions that use scientific methods for collecting data, conducted in similar time with Time Use Survey (2014-2015) and that include questions about social life, sports, family life, unpaid work, paid work and time intensity which are the components of work-life balance. Methodological comparisons of time use survey diaries and other data sources were made for every stage of quantitative research. All indicators on work-life balance including recommended ones by UNECE and OECD were produced by the data sources and the results were compared in a methodological manner under the headings of paid work, unpaid work, leisure time and time intensity.

The disadvantages of Time Use Survey are that it’s a costly survey, respondent load and workload is very high, and it’s conducted infrequently. An irregular or infrequent activity may not seem in the diaries and there is the possibility of respondent not to record all activities in diaries. But its advantages are suppressing the disadvantages. Time use survey produces data of higher quality and reveals the gender inequality better than other data sources due to its different survey methodology. Furthermore, by time use survey data it’s possible to obtain large number of work-life balance indicators by the matrix structure of the diaries with contextual variables. Total workload was one of the key indicators that could only be produced from time use survey data and employed women were found to have the most workload due to excessive time spent on unpaid work in addition to their paid work durations contrary to the situation of men. Thus, it’s recommended for the decision makers to benefit from time use survey data for developing new policies on work-life balance in Turkey.

Time Poverty in Comparative Perspective: An Exploration Using MTUS Data

Author: Margarita Margarita Vega

his paper presents a comparative analysis of time poverty using harmonized data from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS), which includes more than 1.4 million individual diaries from 26 countries between 1961 and 2023. Based on a relative measure of available time, the study examines how time poverty evolves across countries and over time.

Probit models are employed to explore the socio-demographic profiles associated with time poverty and, where data availability allows, its intersection with income poverty. This comparative and longitudinal approach enables the identification of differentiated patterns in time allocation and provides evidence to support the analysis of structural inequalities through the lens of gender and well-being.

Using time use data to understand social reproduction in the energy transition: experience from South Africa

Author: Julia Taylor

The just energy transition has gained significant attention in South Africa and globally as a response to climate change, with low-carbon energy often framed as more equitable than fossil fuels. However, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the social and economic impacts of this transition, particularly for communities dependent on the coal industry. This research critiques the dominant focus on technological solutions in climate mitigation policies, which often overlook the social and political factors driving climate change and the tensions within the energy transition process. By using the lens of social reproduction, the study challenges assumptions about the economy in the energy transition, particularly the narrow focus on formal jobs and energy production. It highlights the importance of considering the informal economy, unpaid work, and energy poverty. A key methodological approach will be the use of a small-scale time-use survey, modelled around the Everyday Feminist Observatory Tool to capture the daily labor patterns and energy-related activities of people in coal- and renewable energy-dependent regions. The research explores the social and political complexities of the energy transition, questioning the feasibility of the popular notion of a just transition. 

“Endless Variety, Monotonous Similarity”: Gendered Time Use across Asian Countries

Author: Surbhi Malhotra

Building on Gayle Rubin’s (1975) concept of women’s lives being shaped by an “endless variety and monotonous similarity,” this paper explores how gendered work responsibilities—primarily in paid and unpaid labor—are distributed across diverse socio-economic and cultural contexts in Asia. We address two central questions: (1) How do patterns of gendered time use—especially in paid and unpaid work—vary across countries? and (2) How do contextual factors, such as infrastructure and prevailing social norms, shape these outcomes? Access to basic infrastructure—such as electricity, piped water, and clean cooking fuels—plays a critical role in reducing women’s domestic workload. At the same time, entrenched social norms continue to shape how time is valued, divided, and constrained along gender lines.

To examine these dynamics, we use time use data from eight Asian countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, India, Mongolia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. All country-specific activity codes are harmonized to the ICATUS 2016 framework, enabling meaningful cross-country comparisons.

Preliminary analysis reveals both striking variation and structural similarity in how time is allocated by gender. For example, women in Mongolia spend approximately 4.5 hours on paid work and 5 hours on unpaid care and domestic tasks, reflecting a more balanced time distribution. In contrast, women in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries devote significantly more time to unpaid work (more than 6 hours) and less to paid employment (close to 2 hours), highlighting persistent gendered constraints. Southeast Asian countries exhibit a “double burden” pattern, with women engaged heavily in both paid and unpaid labor, while countries like Georgia show less inequitable time use patterns.

Our preliminary findings underscore the need for targeted policy interventions—especially in infrastructure, labor markets, and care systems—to reduce the unpaid work burden and promote women’s economic empowerment across diverse contexts in Asia.

More Time, More Well-being? Investigating Time Poverty and Leisure Deprivation of Women in India

Author: Murali D A

Contributing author(s): V Nirmala

This paper investigates time poverty and leisure deprivation through a gendered lens using Time Use Survey (TUS) data (2024), focusing on how economic and social inequities shape access to leisure and rest. While the time-use studies across the globe have recognized leisure as a critical component of well-being, in the Indian context, it remains confined mainly to paid and unpaid work. This study attempts to deepen the conceptual intervention by constructing a Time Poverty Index (TPI) based on individual-level unit data, incorporating personal care, rest, and leisure thresholds. The index includes variables such as gender, social group, education, marital status, and employment status, highlighting deep-rooted inequalities.

Our analysis finds that women, particularly from rural backgrounds, experience significant leisure deprivation. They often lack a personal care time, due to overburdened unpaid care work, resulting in negative available time. On the other hand, for men, it shows consistent surpluses in leisure time, highlighting a sharp gender asymmetry in time allocation. Using time data on activity codes, timing, simultaneity, and multitasking, we highlight how women's leisure is often embedded in or compromised by caregiving and domestic duties, termed contaminated leisure. Regression and decomposition analyses further show that gender gaps in leisure are not merely due to observable socioeconomic differences but also reflect normative, institutional, and policy-level exclusions.

The paper argues for recognizing leisure not as residual time but as a fundamental right, which is essential for physical and emotional well-being. The study attempts to draw policymakers' attention to public care infrastructure and inclusive labour policies. This study is essential to understand work-life balance and place leisure as central to human development in this rapidly growing world.

Time Use and Well-Being of Russian Children

Author: Natalia Mikhailova

Contributing author(s): Maria Nagernyak

The global trend in the policy of many states is to increase the well-being of children and adolescents. The level of children's well-being is monitored to achieve this goal. The comprehensive well-being indexes include indicators of children’s quality of life in various fields. Along with monetary indicators, it is important to evaluate non-monetary components of children's well-being such as the time use.

The current research covers findings gained with a unique instrument which combines survey of Russian children 5-17 years old and their parents and light diaries which were completed by children themselves (little children could use their parent’s help while completing). Thus, the study is instrumental for deep examining of everyday life of Russian children in objective evaluations and subjective perception of children’s time use by their parents. Also, it takes into account context variables such as locations, companions, online or offline format of actions, gadgets usage, satisfaction with daily activities. Several techniques for measuring subjective children well-being are conducted. It elucidates the point of associations between children time use and well-being. Data on educational achievements enlarges understanding of these relationships as children spend a vast part of their time at school or getting ready for the classes. The report focuses on well-being of Russian children with regard to their time use and family characteristics.

Time use of top income decile: Evidence from Russia

Author: Ter-Akopov Sergei

Every person has 24 hours a day regardless of their gender, age, wealth, or status. However, not everyone uses this time equally. Modern life is accelerating, activities are fragmented, and the role of multitasking and parallel activities is growing. Our research shows that if parallel activities are taken into account, the average day prolongs to 26 hours. The day of Russian woman with high wage is even longer — 28 hours.

In Russia, large amount of diverse data on time use has been collected in recent years. In addition to surveys conducted by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, independent large-scale longitudinal surveys have appeared, one of which is conducted by the HSE University. This survey collects time use data as well as data on income, consumption, financial behaviour, well-being, etc. For the first time in Russia, top income decile was included in a time use survey. A specialized sample survey was conducted for this purpose, which allowed us to study their time use and shed some light not only on the structure of the time use of the rich, but also to study satisfaction with their time, to identify those who are money rich, but time poor. The data shows that the top decile live a more diverse and full life, while sacrificing communication with loved ones. Moreover, the study shows that time use satisfaction does not correlate with income level.

Household sharing of childcare time in South Africa

Author: Claire Vermaak

Contributing author(s): Claire Vermaak and Michelle Hatch

Time spent providing care is a crucial input into the physical and emotional wellbeing and development of children. In South Africa, marriage rates are low, and most children do not co-reside with their fathers. Household members other than parents often take on childcare responsibilities.  While existing research shows that women spend more time on childcare on average than men, the ways in which South African households share detailed childcare activities between their members and across the day are unknown.

This paper uses the most recent nationally representative Time Use Survey data for South Africa to explore the nature of time spent caring for children. More than a quarter of adults who live with children report some childcare activity on the diary date. Using descriptive and regression analysis, the research shows that participation in childcare by parents is heavily gendered. Mothers are four times as likely as fathers to report doing any childcare, and they spend more than 30 minutes longer than fathers on childcare when they do it. Women who co-reside with their child are much less likely than men to have their spouse or partner living in the household. Childcare duties are thus shared with other household members, typically women. Women without children younger than 18 participate more in childcare, and spend more time spent on it, than men who are parents. The findings suggest that childcare is still seen as ‘women’s work’ in South Africa, with possible implications for the economic participation and wellbeing of carers.

Inputs, outputs and outcomes by income quintile

Author: Juana Lamote de Grignon Pérez

Time diaries are arguably the key element in all social and economic indicators.  Appropriately designed diary studies are demonstrably exhaustive, insofar as they cover the totality of daily activity (ie all work and all consumption) whether located in the money-based sphere of economic exchange, or in the non-money sphere of reciprocity.  They provide the basis for “dual-entry” internal consistency checks on the valuation of non-money production through the comparison of the value of paid and unpaid labour inputs with directly-valued consumption outputs.  And they also provide the basis for “single-entry” non-monetary valuations of those outcomes of economic activity (eg health, life-satisfaction, happiness) that have no comparators in the form of directly-valued market commodities. 

These input, output and outcome measures can provide a systematic and well-integrated “dashboard” of indicators of wellbeing of the sort recommended by the 2009 Stiglitz report among others.  This contribution provides a scoping study combining extended National Product, instantaneous enjoyment, and healthy behaviour (METs) estimates for (approximate) UK national household income quintiles, all calculated from the same time-use diary data source.

The First Comparative Look at British Workers’ Gendered Working From Home and Well-being: Before, During, and After the COVID-19

Author: Zhuofei Lu

Contributing author(s): Zhuofei Lu, Henglong Luo, Yucheng He, Man-Yee Kan

Working from home, a crucial flexible working arrangement, has experienced significant transformations in its implications for well-being and gender inequality due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Utilising harmonised UK time use data collected before (2014 to 2016), during (2020 to 2021), and after (2023) the pandemic, this study objectively analyses British workers' home working practices through 24-hour time diaries, examining the impacts on well-being from a gendered perspective. Employing a robust combination of analytic methods, including linear and logistic regression, sequence analysis, and fixed-effect regression, this research provides multidimensional insights into the duration and patterns of home working among British workers and explores their effects on daily and instantaneous well-being. The findings reveal that the prevalence of working from home significantly increased during Covid-19 and has remained high post-pandemic. Notably, home working is more prevalent among men and childless women, particularly during and after the pandemic. Conversely, mothers report fewer opportunities to work from home, potentially due to lower levels of enjoyment experienced while working remotely. Furthermore, the study highlights a significant intersectional influence of home working, gender, and parenthood on workers' daily and instantaneous well-being. Specifically, childless men derive substantial well-being benefits from home working, whereas mothers exhibit notably lower satisfaction levels. Overall, these findings offer critical and timely evidence to support policymakers in developing innovative strategies aimed at addressing persistent gender inequalities in childcare responsibilities and employment conditions in the UK.

Measuring behavioural experience in the spatial-temporal moment

Author: Theun Pieter van Tienoven

Contributing author(s): Petrus te Braak, Joeri Minnen

Central to the MOMENT project, which is being carried out by researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, is mapping the spatiotemporal experience of safety in a large city – in this case Brussels. The rationale behind this is that perception of safety in one and the same location may vary according to temporal characteristics. This not only concerns the typical week-weekend, day-night, but also e.g. whether there is rush hour, or – specifically for Brussels – whether there is an EU summit in the European district.

Moreover, it is not only the moment that matters, but also to measure the experience in the moment.

For this, the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a suitable method. It has a calculated temporal component and is therefore able to provide context-specific insights that also have a high ecological validity. Within the MOMENT project, we therefore developed a prototype application that applies EMA in which participants are prompted based on their spatiotemporal context. In other words, prompts are based on where and at what time they are.

This presentation is a demonstration of the MOMENT application. First, we will look at the back-office where the spatiotemporal triggers are defined and linked to a specific questionnaire. Next, we look to the front office, where crossing these triggers creates prompts for respondents to create moments to share behavioural experiences in near real-time. We will end with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this method.

Understanding Time Management Challenges among University Students: Insights from Focus Group Interviews in France

Author: Lei Luo

In the context of increasingly flexible higher education, students’ autonomy, the adaptability of course schedules, and diverse life backgrounds have led to significant differences in how university students manage their time. This study is based on focus group interviews with eighteen French university students from three groups (including students from the same academic year but different majors, and students from the same major but different years). It explores how students allocate their time across academic, work, and leisure activities, the challenges they face, and the strategies they use to cope.

The results show that most students structure their daily routines around institutional timetables, and that the flexibility to choose or adjust course schedules plays an important role in balancing study, part-time jobs, and group work. However, there are considerable differences in students’ available time, mainly due to financial conditions or personal responsibilities—especially for those who must care for family members or who lack financial support. The growing complexity and fragmentation of academic and personal tasks further increase the difficulty of planning time effectively.

Some students facing multiple and demanding tasks report feeling mentally overloaded, which may lead to procrastination, avoidance behaviors, or excessive focus on non-academic activities. This highlights the need for more structured support in time planning and self-regulation. Yet, formal time management training and guidance are still largely missing in most French universities.

Based on these findings, this study recommends integrating self-regulation skills into university support systems. In particular, it proposes offering dedicated courses as part of a broader “time support system.” These courses would help students learn strategic time planning methods and make effective use of digital tools, ultimately promoting fairer and more efficient time use across the student population.

Time use among adolescents and intergenerational transmission of gender patterns in Colombia y Mexico

Author: Veronica Amarante

This paper examines the intergenerational transmission of time use patterns among adolescents in Colombia and Mexico, with a particular focus on unpaid work. Using recent nationally representative time use surveys from both countries, we analyze how adolescents' time allocation relates to their parents' behaviors and attitudes. Our findings reveal significant gender differences in time use: girls dedicate more time to unpaid work and personal care, while boys spend more time on leisure activities. The analysis yields three main contributions. First, we find robust evidence of intergenerational transmission of behaviors: adolescents' time devoted to unpaid work is positively correlated with their same-sex parent's time allocation to these activities, with stronger father-son and mother-daughter associations. Second, the gender gap in unpaid work between adolescent siblings is positively correlated with their parents' gender gap, suggesting that household gender inequalities are reproduced across generations. Third, in Colombia, where attitudinal data is available, we find that traditional gender attitudes are significantly associated with girls' (but not boys') time spent on housework, with maternal attitudes exerting particularly strong influence. These findings highlight how gender roles and inequalities in unpaid work are transmitted across generations through both behavioral patterns and attitudinal socialization. The results underscore the importance of addressing both structural constraints and cultural norms in policies aimed at promoting gender equality in domestic work, particularly during adolescence—a critical period for the formation of lifelong behavioral patterns.

Gender and access to rainwater for agricultural production in East Africa

Author: A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi

Quantitative and qualitative evidence on the mechanisms whereby access to rainwater for agricultural production might be gendered is almost completely absent. Motivated by the need to recognize this immense gap, qualitative fieldwork was carried out in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan. Using intersectional semi-structured focus group discussions with women and men and triangulated comparative analysis it was found that in each country: 1. in households were men and women manage different plots of land access to water for agricultural production is not the same for women as it is for men. Women lack the time to undertake the soil fertility management activities needed to sustain or restore biomass capacity, and in many cases women’s plots of land have poorer soils; 2. women’s resources are not the same as men’s, in households both led by men and by women, and this hinders women’s ability to respond to increased rainfall variability and changes in the length of the growing season. It also means that women may need to find a source of income to meet household needs, thereby reducing the time that they can spend on soil fertility management; and 3. gender norms at the community and household level between men and women produce household structures that place men in positions of decision-making authority while ensuring that women are both economically and socially subordinate to them, a gendered set of rights and responsibilities that reduces women’s water access for agricultural production. While policy can immediately respond through a very large-scale programme water pan construction, the longer-term response requires the introduction of gender-transformative couples’ interventions that seek to reduce intimate partner violence, improve livelihoods, and establish greater cooperation in farm household decision-making. The need for further research, and for policy to recognize and incorporate gendered access to rainwater in agriculture, is urgent.

Exploring Time Allocation Patterns Among Women in Home-Based Employment

Author: Ruchika Ruchika Rao

 This research delves into the intricate time use patterns among women engaged in home-based work across diverse industries in India, within the framework of feminist economics. Drawing upon insights from the Indian Time Use Survey data, the study explores variations in ”time intensity” levels among women workers and investigates the potential influence of caste dynamics on time allocation. The analysis reveals significant disparities in time allocation across major time categories such as employment, domestic work, caregiving, and leisure. Notably, women in rubber industries exhibit the highest levels of ”time intensity”. Contrary to existing literature, the analysis reveals limited variations in ”time intensity” levels across industries. Similarly, the study finds minimal disparities in both the percentage and hours of unpaid work among women, even with considerations for caste dynamics. These findings contribute nuanced insights into gendered labor dynamics and highlight the need for further research to understand the complexities of time allocation and unpaid labor among women in home based employment setting

Stalled Shifts in Unpaid Domestic and Care Work: A Decomposition Analysis of Gendered Time Use in India

Author: Athary Janiso

Contributing author(s): Athary Janiso

Despite increasing policy attention and improved data infrastructure, gender disparities in unpaid domestic and care work in India remain largely unchanged. This paper analyses nationally representative time use data from 1998, 2019, and 2025 to assess whether shifting socio-economic conditions have altered the gendered allocation of unpaid domestic and care work. Employing a decomposition framework, I examine whether the explained portion of the gender gap driven by variables such as employment, education, and household structure has changed meaningfully over time.  Results indicate persistent stagnation in both the magnitude and structural determinants of the gap, with the unexplained share indicative of normative and institutional barriers continuing to dominate.

I further disaggregate time spent in unpaid domestic and care work by caste, region, and income to highlight how stagnation is deepened at the intersections of gender and marginality, thereby contributing to intersectional feminist economics literature. My findings challenge the assumption that recognition of unpaid labour via surveys, and advocacy is sufficient for equity, and advocate a shift toward redistribution. Policy implications include the need for investment in public care infrastructure, incentivizing men's participation in unpaid work, and embedding time justice into broader economic planning.

Exploring Temporal Organization in Higher Education: A Large-Scale Study Protocol on Student Time Management Practices

Author: Alain Fernex

Contributing author(s): Filippi Lionel (Université Grenoble Alpes), Rachdi Mustapha (Université Grenoble Alpes), Lei Luo (Université Lumière Lyon 2

Time management remains a major challenge in higher education, where students are increasingly required to autonomously regulate their academic, social, and personal schedules. To better understand students' temporal organization strategies, we present a study protocol for a large-scale investigation to be conducted in Autumn 2025.

The objective is to collect high-resolution data on students’ planning habits, task prioritization, and perceived control over time. The methodology combines quantitative and qualitative instruments to capture both behavioral patterns and subjective perceptions.

The study will involve over 800 students from multiple disciplines and academic levels (undergraduate and graduate), recruited via stratified sampling to ensure diversity in academic background, institutional context, and workload intensity. Data collection will include:

• A custom time-tracking mobile application enabling real-time logging of activities and schedules;

• A complementary questionnaire assessing attitudes toward time (e.g., procrastination, planning style, time anxiety), validated from the literature;

• Optional semi-structured interviews with a subsample to explore deeper motivational and contextual factors;

• Integration of calendar data and digital behavior traces, with full informed consent and privacy compliance.

This study aims to model temporal profiles, identify dominant patterns (e.g., fragmented vs. structured organization), and assess how students’ actual practices align with their intentions.

Ultimately, the research will inform the design of intelligent, personalized tools for time management support. This contribution outlines the conceptual and technical preparation of the study, offering insights into scalable, ethically sound methods for investigating time use in educational contexts.

Towards Intelligent Time Management Applications for Students: A Technical Architecture for Data Collection, Modeling, and Personalized Feedback

Author: Mustapha Rachdi

Contributing author(s): The authors contributed almost equally to all stages of this work.

Time management is a key component of student success, yet many struggle to develop sustainable planning habits. This contribution presents a technically grounded framework for a mobile application designed to support student self-regulation through data-driven feedback and intelligent time tracking.

The proposed architecture is structured around four layers:(1) Data Acquisition: Combines manual task inputs with passive data sources such as calendar events, screen usage, and contextual sensors.(2) Processing & Classification: Normalizes inputs and classifies tasks using supervised machine learning algorithms (e.g., SVM, decision trees) and natural language processing to detect domain and cognitive load.(3) Temporal Behavior Modeling: Applies clustering algorithms (e.g., k-means, DBSCAN) to profile student routines, detect deviations between plans and actions, and highlight unbalanced usage patterns.(4) Personalized Feedback Generation: Delivers real-time dashboards, metrics (e.g., time dispersion, efficiency scores), and adaptive recommendations via hybrid expert systems and ML-based suggestions.

Technically, the solution employs a hybrid architecture that combines on-device functionalities (ensuring offline usage and fast interaction) with secure, cloud-based analytics for deeper processing. All data handling complies with GDPR standards and emphasizes user privacy.

A pilot study with 700 students from various academic backgrounds showed significant improvement in time planning consistency and a reduction in perceived overload.

This work sits at the intersection of educational technology, software engineering, and learning analytics. It offers a modular, scalable solution for enhancing time awareness and self-regulation through intelligent mobile support.

Research on Childcare Time Costs for 3-6-Year-Old Children in Chinese family

Author: Jialu Tang TANG

Contributing author(s): wenbin wang

This study investigates the childcare time costs for 3-6-year-old children in Chinese family using data from the China Time Use Survey (CTUS), addressing critical gaps in existing research that primarily measures direct costs (time invested in childcare) and indirect costs (opportunity costs calculated through wage rates and reduced leisure/self-care time). While previous studies often focus on income penalties and gender disparities in opportunity costs, this research develops a comprehensive methodological framework to assess childcare time costs while examining their variations across parental education levels and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the study explores how these costs relate to China's unique institutional context, particularly the cost-sharing dynamics between government policies and household responsibilities in early childhood care (ages 3-6), offering valuable insights for family support policy formulation.

Intergenerational Support and Gender Division in Childcare Within East Asian Family Structures: Time-Use Study of China and South Korea for 3 decades

Author: Jialu Tang TANG

China and South Korea both face challenges such as population aging and declining fertility rates, making childcare a critical issue for the two countries. This study utilizes time-use data from China and South Korea to examine the differences of time use arrangement on childcare between two family structures for a long period: multigenerational co-residence families and nuclear families. It explores the mechanisms of intergenerational support and gender division childcare time within these family structures. Additionally, the study aims to investigate the potential impact of macro-level childcare policies on childcare time over an extended period. Preliminary findings over the long-term time arrangement reveal that, in both China and South Korea, compared to nuclear families, grandparents' childcare support in multigenerational co-residence households alleviates mothers' housework time. This represents a consistent and universal mechanism in both countries, reinforcing the gendered division in East Asian societies. However, the impact on fathers' childcare time differs significantly between the two nations. In South Korea, co-residence does not exhibit a noticeable effect, but fathers' daily childcare time is positively correlated with their gender-related childcare time. This study seeks to provide explanations for these findings in terms of gender ideology and policy implantation over an extended period.

Mapping Couples’ Daily Rhythms: A Multi-Channel Sequence Analysis of Time Use in UK Dual-Earner Households

Author: Wei Zhuang

Understanding how dual-earner couples coordinate their daily lives requires analytical tools that capture the temporal and spatial interdependencies between partners, an aspect rarely addressed by traditional time use research. This study introduces a novel application of multi-channel sequence analysis (MCSA) to nationally representative time-use diary data from the 2014–2015 United Kingdom Time Use Survey (UKTUS), offering a significant methodological innovation for family and gender research.

Using detailed 24-hour diaries from 675 dual-earner heterosexual couples, I simultaneously analyze both partners' daily activities and locations as interdependent temporal-spatial sequences. This approach reveals four distinctive clusters of couple-level coordination patterns: (1) traditional gendered division, (2) dual-earner daytime synchrony, (3) "role reversal," and (4) nonstandard male work schedules. Demographic and occupational profiles further illuminate the diversity of coordination strategies employed by contemporary couples.

By visualizing the complex choreography of couples' daily lives, something unattainable with conventional analytical approaches, this research demonstrates how MCSA can uncover previously hidden forms of gendered division of labor and relational synchrony. The findings reveal new insights that emerge specifically from couple-level multi-channel analysis, which individual-level or comparison-based approaches cannot capture. These results highlight not only the substantive contributions to understanding contemporary family life but also the transformative potential of multi-channel methods for advancing time use research methodologies.

Tracing the Continuum of Unpaid Work Among Adolescent Girls and Married Women in India across two decades

Author: Laeek Ahemad Siddiqui

Contributing author(s): Laeek Ahemad Siddiqui

Present study explores the patterns and shifts in unpaid work among unmarried adolescent girls and married women in India over two decades, using data from the 1998 pilot Time Use Survey and the nationally representative 2019 Time Use Survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Despite social and economic transformations during this period, unpaid work continues to be disproportionately borne by women, especially within the household domain. Finding reveals that, in 1998, married women were observed to spend approximately 5 hours per day on unpaid domestic and caregiving tasks. By 2019, this burden had increased to nearly 6 hours daily, indicating a persistent and growing demand on their time, particularly in tasks such as cooking, cleaning, water and fuel collection, and care responsibilities (which include children and adults). In contrast, unmarried adolescent girls (aged 15–19 years) engaged in unpaid work to a lesser extent but still devoted a significant portion of their time, often more than 2 hours per day to household duties. This suggests the early gendered socialization process, where even adolescent girls are expected to contribute substantially to domestic work.

The transition from adolescence to marriage marks a significant increase in unpaid work responsibilities for women, driven by traditional gender norms, cultural expectations, and household structures. The 2019 data also reveal continued rural-urban disparities, with rural women spending approximately 15% more time on unpaid activities compared to their urban counterparts, due to infrastructure gaps and limited access to public services. The findings call for a deeper recognition of unpaid work in policy and programmatic frameworks. There is an urgent need to implement measures that reduce and redistribute unpaid work, support adolescent girls' access to education and leisure activities, and provide greater autonomy in time management for married women. Addressing these inequalities is crucial for advancing gender justice and enabling more equitable socio-economic development in India.

Gender disparities in time spent on paid work and childcare in South Africa

Author: Kivona Kivona Jean Reddy

Contributing author(s): Priyanka Harrichurran

Gender disparities in the allocation of time are highlighted globally, with women dedicating more time towards unpaid labour, including childcare and household work, compared to men. However, in the South African context, where historical factors (such as apartheid and its influence on household formation) and social norms continue to play a vital role in shaping gendered roles, not much is known about how time is allocated. Using the most recent 2010 South Africa Time Use Survey, this study investigates how men and women allocate their time to paid work and childcare. Specifically, in order to contextualise empirical findings, four theories of time use (including Becker’s theory of the allocation of time, the relative resources approach, the time availability perspective, and gender ideology) are drawn on. Descriptive statistics show that men spend significantly more time on paid labour, while women carry a disproportionate burden of unpaid childcare and household work. On average, women spend over nine times more time on childcare than men do. Women also live in larger households and with more children than men and this has implications for how they allocate their time. Ordinary Least Squares regressions for paid work and childcare, by gender, reveal that factors such as household composition, parental status, and marital status are key determinants. The presence of an additional young child in the household increases women’s childcare time far more than men’s, and marriage tends to reduce women’s paid work time while increasing time spent on caregiving duties. These findings highlight gender roles and the effect of doing gender. Targeted policy responses are needed to address inequalities in time use, and especially in unpaid care work for women. Policies that lessen the unpaid work burdens that women face will help to tackle gender inequality in this area and improve women’s well-being.

Temporal Dimensions of Perceived Safety in Urban Space

Author: Petrus te Braak

Contributing author(s): Ella Oelbrandt; Francesca Mullens; Theun Pieter van Tienoven

Perceptions of safety in urban environments are not only spatially but also temporally situated. This study explores how feelings of safety vary across different times of day, days of the week and seasonal rhythms, focusing on the lived experiences of women in Brussels. Drawing on qualitative data from focus groups conducted in Brussels, Belgium, the research highlights how temporal factors such as darkness, weather, rush hour dynamics or off-peak isolation shape when and where individuals feel vulnerable or secure. The findings reveal that temporal context interacts with spatial features and social presence, affecting how urban space is navigated and experienced. By foregrounding temporality, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of urban safety and calls for time-sensitive approaches in urban planning and policy design.

Costs of Compassion: Impact of informal caregiving on caregivers’ wellbeing in India

Author: Priyanka Priyanka

Contributing author(s): Sukumar Vellakkal

India is experiencing a decline in labor force participation alongside a rise in unpaid labor, particularly informal caregiving. As the demand for informal care continues to grow, there is a pressing need to strengthen the evidence base on its effects on caregivers. Besides, the caring contributions of older adults are often undervalued owing to prevailing perceptions that portray them primarily as a drain on the health care resources. Especially beyond middle-age, individuals are frequently reclassified as care recipients rather than caregivers, an assumption that does not always align with reality. Given this context, we examine the gendered impact of informal caregiving on the health deficit accumulation, measured via a frailty index, of caregivers in India. Leveraging a nationally representative data for adults aged 45 and above from the Longitudinal Ageing Survey of India (2017-19), we employ an instrumental variables strategy to address potential endogeneity concerns.  The findings indicate a positive and statistically significant effect on the frailty index, revealing that informal caregiving adversely affects caregivers’ health. These results are robust across alternative specifications and estimation strategies. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the adverse effects are more pronounced among women in general and ageing, widowed and rural women in particular. The study underscores the need for policy interventions to expand formal long-term care systems and strengthen structured support for informal caregivers in India.