Time Use and Gender

How much time do you spend on non-paid activities?

How do you spend your time on a typical day? Most of us know how much time we spend at paid jobs, but how much unpaid care work are we also doing? The Counting Women’s Work project answers this question for many countries across the globe. Scroll down to compare how much time you devote to unpaid care work and education relative to others in the world.

This website uses national time use surveys and the National Time Transfer Accounts methodology to estimate time use across countries (click here to learn about the methodology).

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Key Concepts

Unpaid Care Work

Work done for no pay to sustain households and care for household and community members. Includes direct care and housework.

Direct Care

Caretaking of children, elders, the sick and disabled in our households and communities. Includes volunteering.

Housework

Activities like cooking, cleaning, laundry, household maintenance, and management that benefit household members.

Education

Time spent in school, university, or other educational institution. Also includes time spent at home on study and homework.

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How do you compare to the rest of the world?

Please share the following information about you:

What's your gender?

What's your age?

Compare against...


This is how you compare vs people in The World

You

Men

(20 yrs)

Women

(20 yrs)

Direct Care

hrs/wk
Average men (20 yrs): 3.32 hrs/wk3.32 hrs/wk
You spend 3.32 hrs less
Average women (20 yrs): 8.53 hrs/wk8.53 hrs/wk
You spend 8.53 hrs less

Housework

hrs/wk
Average men (20 yrs): 7.14 hrs/wk7.14 hrs/wk
You spend 7.14 hrs less
Average women (20 yrs): 19.33 hrs/wk19.33 hrs/wk
You spend 19.33 hrs less

Education

hrs/wk
Average men (20 yrs): 12.15 hrs/wk12.15 hrs/wk
You spend 12.15 hrs less
Average women (20 yrs): 11.64 hrs/wk11.64 hrs/wk
You spend 11.64 hrs less

Unpaid Care Work

0.00 hrs/wk

You spend 22.61hrs/wk less than average men
You spend 39.50hrs/wk less than average women
Share your results:

Facts

Did you know that women's unpaid activities represent 23% of GDP in Colombia, 22% in Costa Rica, 19% in the United States and 23% in Uruguay?.

Did you know that, typically, caring is the unpaid activity to which people devote more time? This is true especially for women between 20 and 45 years old, which coincides with their childbearing years.

Did you know that the women in the United States dedicate 52% more time to unpaid housework activities than men? This figure rises to 123% in Uruguay, 222% in Colombia, and 247% in Costa Rica.

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Time use by region per age

Age

Source: Counting Women's Work
Notes: Counting Women’s Work project estimates. The current country database includes estimates from seventeen countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United States, Uruguay, and Vietnam. The world and other average measures are equal-weighted averages of countries in that region or group. Consumption age profiles are calculated based on how much unpaid care work time is produced in each household and the household structure. See the Counting Women’s Work website for details and access to estimates.

Learn more

Cover of Time and use transfers in the Americas
Read more (Amazon)
Read more (Springer)