Taking paid and unpaid work time together, working-age American men and women differ very little in their total work time, according to analyses of the American Time Use Survey. But when it comes to leisure activities, there’s a gender gap.

Men spend about 10 hours more a week than women in paid work. But women even that out because they spend about six hours more than men doing household work, plus they spend about three additional hours taking care of the children, bringing the total work time to 45.6 hours per week for men and 45.2 hours for women.

However, men spend more time than women in leisure activities, which includes TV time, playing games, sports and a series of other activities. The gender gap in leisure is about five hours per week.

Men who are fathers enjoy more leisure time than mothers; the gap is close to three hours per week. For adults who do not have young children at home, the leisure gap is wider: men without young children at home spend about five hours per week more in leisure than women in the same situation. Read more

Bruce Drake  is a former senior editor at Pew Research Center.
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