The table and bar chart illustrate the amount of time UK people allocated to housework and recreational activities in 2008, categorized by gender. Units are measured in minutes per day (mins/day).
Overall, the most popular entertainment for both genders was watching TV, video and listening to radio, while cooking and washing were the most time-consuming household task. Notably, men spent more time on most leisure activities compared to women, who dedicated significantly more time to household chores.
In terms of recreational pursuits, watching TV, video and listening to the radio were by far the most prevalent activity, with men spending more time than women (137 compared to 118 mins/day). However, reading was the only activity in which women invested more time than men, with respective figures of 19 and 18 mins/day.
As for household chores, women devoted the most time on cooking meals and washing dishes, at 75 mins/day on average, which approximately double the figure for males, at about 30 minutes. The second most time-consuming activity was shopping, with women averaging around 35 and men roughly 25 minutes a day. This pattern continued with clothes-related chores, where women spent 30 mins/day, which triple the amount men did. In contrast, the amount of time men spent on repairing things was twice as much as that of women, at nearly 20 mins/day.