Gender Convergence and Life-course Differentiation in the Canadian Use of Time

Abstract

The distribution of combined paid and unpaid work between the genders is contested and undergoing renegotiation. Time allocated to combined work and available leisure time is analyzed using data from the Canadian General Social Survey for the years 1986, 1993, and 1998. Becker’s theory of specialization proposes near equality in combined work as the product of a gendered division of labour that increases the efficiency of household production. This perspective is contrasted with that of the double burden, which suggests that women who are largely engaged in paid work will incur additional combined work as a result of unchanged family responsibilities. A life-course perspective is utilized to analyze variation in combined work and leisure over the lifecourse. Categories are specifically derived to assess the impact that children under the age of five have on the time-use of parents at highly productive stages in the life-course. Analyses indicate that time allocated to combined work and leisure time has become increasingly differentiated by one’s stage in the life-course. Gender differences in combined work have converged, while important differences remain in available leisure. Near gender equity in combined work by stage in the life-course suggests that the double burden has become less gendered, though highly patterned, by the presence of young children within the home.