Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2020
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Uncovering Inequalities in Time-Use and Well-Being during COVID-19: A Multi-Country Investigation

By: Laura M. Giurge, Ayse Yemiscigil, Joseph Sherlock and Ashley V. Whillans
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:36
ShareBar

Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic continues to alter how people spend their time, with possible downstream consequences for subjective well-being. Using diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, Brazil, and Spain (n = 30,018) and following a preregistered analytic plan, we find notable gender differences in time-use, with women and especially mothers spending more time on necessities such as childcare and household chores than fathers during the pandemic. We also provide longitudinal evidence that young women engaged in less active leisure in the initial weeks of COVID-19 compared to young men, and that these differences in active leisure predicted lower subjective well-being one month later (n = 924). Together, these data represent one of the most rigorous empirical investigations examining how time-use relates to well-being during the forced lockdowns created by the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on time—a critical but largely overlooked resource—these results point toward underexamined inequalities that policymakers and organizational leaders should carefully consider when designing policies now and post-COVID-19.

Keywords

Time-use; Subjective Well-being; Covid-19; Health Pandemics; Work-life Balance; Gender; Equality And Inequality

Citation

Giurge, Laura M., Ayse Yemiscigil, Joseph Sherlock, and Ashley V. Whillans. "Uncovering Inequalities in Time-Use and Well-Being during COVID-19: A Multi-Country Investigation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-037, September 2020.

Supplemental Information

Figures
  • Read Now

About The Author

Ashley V. Whillans

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 29, 2021
    • Harvard Business Review (website)

    Research: A Little Recognition Can Provide a Big Morale Boost

    By: Shibeal O'Flaherty, Michael Sanders and Ashley V. Whillans
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Extension Request Avoidance Increases Time Stress among Women

    By: Ashley V. Whillans, Jaewon Yoon, Aurora Turek and Grant E. Donnelly
    • March 23, 2021
    • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

    A Multicountry Perspective on Gender Differences in Time Use During COVID-19

    By: Ashley V. Whillans, Laura M. Giurge and Ayse Yemiscigil (shared authorship)
More from the Authors
  • Research: A Little Recognition Can Provide a Big Morale Boost By: Shibeal O'Flaherty, Michael Sanders and Ashley V. Whillans
  • Extension Request Avoidance Increases Time Stress among Women By: Ashley V. Whillans, Jaewon Yoon, Aurora Turek and Grant E. Donnelly
  • A Multicountry Perspective on Gender Differences in Time Use During COVID-19 By: Ashley V. Whillans, Laura M. Giurge and Ayse Yemiscigil (shared authorship)
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College