Beyond Distribution. An Empirical Study of Valuation and Gender Differences in Time Use.

Abstract

The Santiago Life Survey (EVES in Spanish) contains questions on the valuations of time use, understood as the evaluation and desirability of its distribution. The results show that these evaluations do not always coincide with the objective distributions, and that there is a contrast between how the uses of time are evaluated and how people want them to be. This occurs for certain activities and with marked gender differences. Women, for example, do not want to dedicate less time to childcare, even though they say they dedicate too much to it. These discrepancies show the need to consider the norms that guide the valuation of time use and not only how it is unequally distributed. Such norms not only reinforce gender inequalities, but also challenge them.