Free and easy!?

Original title Lekker vrij!?

Free time, paid work and care are not as strictly segregated in people’s daily lives as is often assumed in research and policy. This appears to hold particularly for women. International research suggests the existence of a ‘triple shift’ for women: in addition to their paid work outside the home and unpaid work in the home (first and second shift), it is suggested that women’s free time is dominated much more than men’s by looking after the emotional well-being of children, family members and friends. Earlier research has also shown that women’s free time is more fragmented and that they more often spend it in the company of children.

In this study we open the ‘black box’ of free time. We describe how much free time men and women have and whether the conditions in which they spend their free time offer equal opportunities for relaxation. We also examine whether any differences could offer an explanation for the fact that women more often feel timepressur and generally want to work part-time, even if they do not have young children.

Wil Portegijs (SCP) works in the Care, Emancipation and Time Use research sector at SCP. Her research interests focus on women’s emancipation, particularly in relation to labour market participation and economic independence.

Mariëlla Cloïn

Rahil Roodsaz (Atria) is a scientific researcher at the Atria Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s History. Her fields of interest are gender, sexuality, identity and migration. ….

Martin Olsthoorn (SCP) works in the Labour and Public Services research sector at SCP, where he carries out research on pensions, household incomes and the redistributive function of public expenditure.