Recent research shows that time poverty is increasing across Australia, especially for single parents and women. Research indicates that single parents with children under 15 spend nearly an hour more on unpaid work compared to couples. Women tend to feel the impact of this added burden more deeply. The share of them that say they often or always feel hurried or harried is more than 36 percent. In comparison, under 30 percent of men feel the same time-crunched pressure.
These data points illustrate a stark contrast in how racial and ethnic demographics are able to navigate their time and responsibilities. Statistics tell a story of an increasingly difficult contemporary Australian life. As so many Americans struggle with the intersection of work, family and personal time.
Gender Disparities in Time Management
These findings show that on average, women are working nearly an hour more per day than men. As a result, they each have one hour less leisure time. Inclusive of remote work environments, this gap only expands when taking into account the ability to work from home. For women working from home, she is more likely to log an extra hour than her male counterpart.
This study indicates what a major hurdle there is for women. They often end up spending their days on unpaid labor like homemaking and caregiving duties. Ditzell elaborates on this point:
“They often call it the double shift, where women, they’ll go and do their paid work and then when they return home, they then do the second shift.”
According to the UCL research, mothers spend an average of one hour a day more caring for children than fathers. This imbalance brings to light the disproportionate allocation of domestic duties.
“What we see quite typically is that that time is usually reinvested either to doing additional paid work or for that extra unpaid work.”
Even with the demands of unpaid work, Australians make time to catch up. Based on the responses from our research, roughly 55 percent of respondents still make time to socialize IRL. There is a notable gender gap: only a quarter of men engage in social activities in person, whereas nearly a third of women do.
Socializing and Leisure Time
Notably, the survey underscores a major gap in experiences between workers with children and those without. Parents, for example, are said to spend nearly three fewer hours on leisure activities compared with their childless counterparts. That loss of free time takes a deep toll on their safety, happiness, and quality of life.
Perhaps just as importantly, the study offers valuable insights into the media consumption habits of everyday Australians. In fact, on average everyone watches or streams just under three hours daily of their go to series or classic cinema. What is even more concerning, nearly half of respondents said they were spending significant amounts of time online shopping, checking email and using social media.
Online Activities and Screen Time
Not only do these activities educate, they continue to captivate and inspire Australians. Their calming influence helps so many Americans deal with the pressures of modern daily life. Ditzell points out how these choices may influence other aspects of life:
Additionally, people who work exclusively from home are doing 7h8m of paid workday on average. This is in stark contrast to their commuting counterparts, who average about 8 hours and 18 minutes at their work locations.
“So it may be things like putting an extra load of washing on or actually having some extra time to spend caring for, whether it’s children or pets or aging parents.”
Moreover, individuals working from home complete an average of 7 hours and 8 minutes of paid work each day. This contrasts sharply with their commuting counterparts, who clock in around 8 hours and 18 minutes at their workplaces.
