The table presents data on the average number of minutes per day that men and women in the UK spent on recreational activities and household tasks in 2008. Overall, men devoted considerably more time to leisure pursuits, particularly television, video, and radio consumption, whereas women spent substantially longer on domestic responsibilities. The only household activity in which men were more involved was repairing.
In terms of leisure, both genders allocated the largest share of their recreational time to TV, video, and radio, at 137 minutes for men and 118 minutes for women. Reading showed almost no gender difference, with women reading for 19 minutes per day and men for 18 minutes. By contrast, engagement in sports was more common among males, who spent 15 minutes daily compared with 11 minutes for females.
The most pronounced disparity in household activities occurred in cooking and washing, where women spent around 70 minutes per day – more than double the 30 minutes recorded for men. A similar pattern was seen in shopping, as women devoted 35 minutes to this task while men spent just 23 minutes. Repairing was the only activity dominated by men, who spent 19 minutes on it compared with only 10 minutes for women. Additionally, women allocated three times as much time to washing and ironing clothes, at 30 minutes per day, while men spent just 10 minutes.