Unequal Leisure Opportunities across Genders – Powerless Women!?

Leisure is the means of reproducing our energies we lose due to objective and subjective weariness. While the ’cure’ for objective fatigue is sleeping and resting, the solution for subjective tiredness is leisure and pleasure. We need both to stay healthy. Opportunities to stay healthy are however not equal in our societies: Place of Residence; Race/Ethnicity; Occupation; Gender; Religion; Education; Socio-economic status; and Social capital/Resources (all together referred to as PROGRESS) are the key determinants. In our presentation we highlight at the gender issue from among the key determinants, which status is in strong connection with almost all the above listed features. Throughout history women’s political power, financial status (feminisation of poverty, wage gaps), education and labour market status (vertical and horizontal segregation) were less favourable than men’s. There are stereotypes like women cannot reconcile work and family. Women, who do all or most of the housework spare a lot of expenses for the family, without financial or moral appreciation. The Hungarian time-budget surveys performed since 1963 have proven, that the average time spent for work is more than in case of men and this extra time is taken away from sleeping and leisure.

The presentation will analyse the trends of women’s time spent for leisure from 1963 till nowadays and their characteristic means of recovering their energies, using secondary statistical analysis and primary research data obtained by the research group the presenters are members of. We will also highlight at the health-mental health consequences caused by the lack of quality leisure time and powerful general resistance resources. Finally we will formulate the measures the Institute of Applied Health Sciences and Health Promotion takes to aid women in a better time management.