Belgian men have more leisure time than women

Lifestyles have hardly changed over the past 15 years in Belgium, where traditional gender roles remain intact and television continues to be the entertainment of choice, according to the 'Time Use Survey 2013' released on Monday by the FPS Economy and TOR research group of the Free University of Brussels (VUB), writes De Standaard.

“An average day for a Belgian in 2013 still looks pretty much the same as it did in 1999,” said VUB professor Ignace Glorieux at the presentation of the study. “There is a period for sleep (22.00-6.00) and a period for work (6.00-18.00), which includes not only paid work, but also household chores and child care."

From 19.00 until bedtime follows a period of 'free time', which is spent watching television in more than half of the cases. "New and social media such as Facebook have barely affected the free time activities," says Glorieux.

The survey debunks the general belief that people are spending less and less time sleeping, enjoying a meal, or being with their children.

Traditional gender roles continue in Belgium, the survey reveals, with men spending more than six hours a week more on paid work, while women spend 8.5 hours a week more on taking care of the household and children. This results in an average of six hours per week more free time for men than women.

The study asked 5,559 Belgians (age 10 and up) from 2,744 households to keep a diary for two days about how they spend their time.