Time Use and Life Satisfaction within Couples: A Gender Analysis for Belgium

This article looks at the time allocation of individuals with a focus on paid and unpaid work, its division within households, and its link with life satisfaction. The study uses the cross-sectional MEqIN database for Belgium in 2016 and corrects for heterogeneity by using measures of the personality traits. The division of time appears to be quite gendered. Women are found to be more satisfied when working part time. This could be because a majority of working women still undertake most of the unpaid work so that they end up operating a double shift. Looking at the link of time allocation of both partners on the individuals’ life satisfaction, men’s behavior appears to be in accordance with a conservative gender attitude, and even a breadwinner version, while women’s behavior is closer to an egalitarian gender attitude. The study further observes that those behaviors are softened by the presence of children. HIGHLIGHTS In Belgium, women spend more time on unpaid work, even conditional on being employed. Without considering interdependencies, women are more satisfied when working part time. Accounting for interdependencies, women favor an equal sharing of paid and unpaid work. Men appear to be more satisfied when they undertake more paid work than their partner. Policy implications should involve changing men’s behavior and traditional gender norms.