Women's Attitudes Towards Leisure and Family

Abstract

Abstract This paper is an investigation into women's attitudes towards leisure time, which have received less attention by researchers than the empirically documented discrimination of women in this area. Also, women's attitudes regarding leisure time are compared with those of men. Questions are asked about different aspects such as the importance of leisure time in the context of central life interests, women's normative attitudes and preferences regarding leisure time and family, and also the desired amount of leisure time. The author's assumption was corroborated that women's attitudes towards leisure time are less influenced by their access to it and more determined by their life plans and social identities respectively. Housewives and employed women are diametrically opposed to each other and their attitudes vary widely. With men, a constant relationship can be observed between the amount of available leisure time, its importance and preferences for it. They enjoy, for example, less leisure time with rising occupational status, but it is then less important to them. With women, on the other hand, there is no straightforward relationship between occupational status and preferences regarding leisure time.