Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Maasboulevard_ontspanning_voor_het_hele_gezin
A mother with her kids (Photo: Peter van der Sluijs/Wikimedia Commons) - Credit: A mother with her kids (Photo: Peter van der Sluijs/Wikimedia Commons)
Atria
emotion work
family care
free time
Jet Bussemaker
men
Ministry of Education Culture and Science
SCP
Social and Cultural Planning Bureau
women
Tuesday, 8 March 2016 - 16:10
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Dutch men get more time to relax than women

While men and women in the Netherlands have about the same amount of free time, women spend more of their free time in care related duties and struggle to relax, according to a new study by the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau and Atria. The study was done on behalf of Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Science. The study found that on average women do not have less free time than men - they spend more time on household and care related tasks, but less time on paid work. But their free-time is less free than that of men. Women's free time is also more fragmented than men's, they spend more of their free time with children, and often do chores instead of relaxing. Women also tend to feel more responsible for the emotional well-being of their family than men do. This "emotion work" comes at the expense of their relaxation during free time, according to the SCP. While men see time at home as free and relaxing time. Women tend to experience it as another shift at work. The study also showed that Dutch women often choose to keep working part time, even after their kids are a bit older, to have more time for themselves or other duties, rather than a lack of interest in their career. A fifth of men in the study indicated that they would like to spend less time at work, especially young fathers. Minister Bussemaker thinks women doing part time work to get more time for other things is a waste of talent. And she believes that the solution lies with the men who want to work less, she said to broadcaster NOS in reaction to the study. The men who want to do so should discuss working less with their partners and employers, and the women should set their boundaries. "They maybe have to let things go somewhat more often and men could do a little more at home."

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Utrecht garbage strike comes to an end after one week
  • Rutte tells Erdogan the Dutch can offer more help; Dutch donate millions in relief aid
  • Netherlands, Germany & Denmark buying at least 100 Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine
  • Low-income earners can now apply for extra energy bill compensation
  • Plans for 1-hour train between Amsterdam, Groningen enters new phase
  • Bitvavo crypto exchange strikes deal to recover 80-100% of clients’ missing assets

Top stories

  • Rutte tells Erdogan the Dutch can offer more help; Dutch donate millions in relief aid
  • Netherlands, Germany & Denmark buying at least 100 Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine
  • Care farm ordered closed for physically, mentally abusing people with disabilities
  • Vattenfall to lower energy prices to below price cap for 700,000 customers in April
  • Dutch rescue team arrives in Turkey; Nearly €1.2 million raised for earthquake victims
  • Netherlands to send a search & rescue team to Turkey after 7.8 magnitude earthquake

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content