Household time allocation in Russia: economic or sociocultural model?

Abstract

The article is focused on determining the dominant model of household time allocation in Russia based on the analysis of demographic, economic, social, and sociocultural factors. The main method of the study is a statistical analysis of the data from a household survey conducted by the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation in 2019 titled “Selective observation of the daily time use by the population”. The results of the study indicate an unfinished transition toward gender equality. The economic model of time allocation (the more one participates in the labor market, the less housework one does) is dominant during the work week, while the sociocultural model (gender determines the degree of workload in the household regardless of the level of employment in the labor market) takes precedence on the weekends. This is expressed in the increase in women’s unpaid work on weekends as compensation for missing out on household chores during the working weekdays. In addition, depending on the size of the gender gaps we identified “patriarchal” and “progressive” regions of Russia. Sociocultural characteristics turned out to be significant not only in the “patriarchal” regions but also in most of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Sociocultural attitudes weaken the economic model in the allocation of time between partners, especially on weekends. Thus, the economic model dominates on weekdays while the sociocultural one dominates on weekends.