Extended Summary

The main aim of this study is to examine how daily time use differed between women and men during the pandemic. This quantitative research analyzes data obtained from 380 participants aged 18 and over. It investigates the amount of time women and men allocated to major daily activities during the pandemic, including paid work, housework, care work, volunteering activities, as well as personal care and rest. In addition, the study examines how employment status, the presence of children in the household, and the existence of elderly, ill, or disabled individuals in the household affected patterns of time use.
The results on time use reveal clear gender differences during the pandemic. Women spent more time on unpaid domestic activities, while men devoted more time to paid work and personal activities. According to the findings, the average daily working time of all participants was 3 hours and 12 minutes. Among participants who reported having paid employment, this duration increased to 4 hours and 7 minutes.
Women spent more than 7 hours per day on unpaid domestic work on average, whereas men spent approximately 5 hours. When the time devoted specifically to housework—one of the main components of unpaid domestic labor—is examined, it appears that during the pandemic female participants spent an average of 5 hours and 40 minutes per day on housework, while male participants spent 4 hours and 8 minutes. Another core component of unpaid domestic labor is care work. Women spent on average 45 minutes more per day on care activities than men, indicating that the gendered structure of care labor continued during the pandemic period.
When the time allocated to personal care, interests, and self-development activities is considered, an interesting finding emerges: women spent more than 12 minutes longer on educational activities compared to men. This suggests that women continued to strive for personal development despite the constraints of the pandemic. In terms of social interaction activities, women spent about two minutes more than men, and in personal care activities the difference was about eight minutes in favor of women. However, men were able to devote about 1.5 hours more per day than women to sleep, rest, and hobby activities. This indicates that women’s combined burden of paid and unpaid labor negatively affected the amount of personal time available to them.
The sub-analyses revealed that the presence of children significantly increased the domestic workload for both sexes, but the temporal cost of childcare was disproportionately borne by women, limiting their personal time. Furthermore, the employment status did not automatically lead to an egalitarian division of labor; even unemployed men maintained a defensive distance from care responsibilities. In households with elderly, ill, or disabled individuals, women’s care hours increased substantially, while men withdrew more sharply from routine housework tasks.
Overall, the findings of the study show that the pandemic negatively affected individuals’ economic conditions, and also led to quantitative changes in daily time use. However, rather than eliminating gender-based inequalities, these changes largely reproduced them. The fact that women assumed the majority of unpaid domestic labor during the pandemic demonstrates that responsibilities related to housework and care are shaped less by rational time management and more by social norms that impose these tasks as a duty of womanhood.