Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/243355 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2021/29
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This study considers how household composition influences the leisure time of men and women in South Africa, using the South African 2010 Time Use Survey. Studying leisure time is important since the allocation of time outside the market provides insights into market behaviour and physical and mental health. Household composition and leisure consumption are highly gendered, with women typically living in larger households and consuming less leisure than men. Regression analysis shows that leisure time allocations are highly dependent on who lives in the household and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis finds that gender differences in mean leisure time can be attributed to household members, affecting the leisure time of male and female respondents differently. Overall, the results are consistent with traditional gender roles within the household and highlight the lack of intra-household bargaining power for women, providing evidence of gender inequality. Lower leisure consumption for women may have negative implications for their productivity in terms of paid and unpaid work, and for their well-being.
Subjects: 
leisure time
household composition
gender inequality
time use
regression analysis
Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition
South Africa
JEL: 
C21
D13
I31
J16
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-967-9
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-sa Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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