Gendered Time Use of Older Adults in Rural Chinese Families

Abstract

Using time use data collected in the 2015 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, we develop a time use typology to characterize how women and men in rural Chinese families allocate their time in later life. Using the K-means cluster analysis, we identify four time use categories: “work-oriented,” “socially active,” “homemaker/caretaker,” and “socially isolated.” Older women are much more likely to be “homemaker/caretaker” than older men, whereas older men are twice as likely as older women to be “work-oriented,” reflecting a continuity in the gendered time use patterns across the life course. Results from multinomial logistic regression models indicate that living arrangements are closely associated with the gendered time use of older adults in rural Chinese families. Older women living in multigenerational households are most likely to be “homemaker/caretaker,” whereas older men in this type of household tend to belong to the time use category of “work-oriented.” This sharp gender difference further suggests that family as a social context produces gender disparities in time use.