An Estimation of the Effects of Women's Work on Available Leisure Time

In this article we examine the leisure time expenditures of married women in the paid labor force. Our analysis delineates two categories of leisure activities (active and passive) that are differentially affected by women's work. Using the 1981 Time Use Study (Juster, Hill, Stafford, and Parsons, 1983), we estimate a path model of the amount of leisure time available to married women showing the effects of time spent in paid labor, age, number of children, and time spent on household labor on available leisure time. We estimate that women's responsibilities for paid work and unpaid household labor come at the expense of their leisure time. Paid work time has an estimated negative effect on both active and passive leisure time, while household labor time has an estimated direct negative effect on total leisure time. We speculate that because paid work and household tasks are requisite for most women today they must schedule leisure time around both activities.