Leisure — A model on private provision of family public goods

Abstract

The United Nations Human Development Report’sreview of time use in 31 countries in 1995 documents the fact that women consistently enjoy less leisure time than men with women working longer hours (paid and unpaid) than men in nearly every country. In a German time budget survey for 1991/92 the overall leisure gap between men and women amounts to more than 20 minutes on an average day (Statistisches Bundesamt 1995). When it comes to working adults the gender-specific difference increases to more than half an hour for those in full-time jobs. Half an hour may seem a small amount of time, but it is worthwhile noting that it took several decades for contracted daily working time to fall by this amount.