American Time Use Survey (ATUS)

Selected findings from the news release:

• On the days that they worked, employed men worked 41 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women's greater likelihood of working part time. However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women--8.2 hours compared with 7.8 hours.
• On the days that they worked, 24 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home, and 83 percent did some or all of their work at their workplace. Men and women were about equally likely to do some or all of their work at home.
• On an average day, 84 percent of women and 67 percent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.
• On the days that they did household activities, women spent an average of 2.6 hours on such activities, while men spent 2.1 hours.
• On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework--such as cleaning or doing laundry--compared with 49 percent of women. Forty-one percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 68 percent of women.
• On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.8 hours) than did women (5.1 hours). 
• Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), accounting for about half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for nearly three-quarters of an hour per day. 
• Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any given day--22 percent compared with 16 percent. On the days that they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women--1.9 hours compared with 1.3 hours.
• On an average day, among adults living in households with children under 6, women spent 1.1 hours providing physical care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children; by contrast, men spent 26 minutes providing physical care.