The 2024 Time Use Survey was released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), giving a broad snapshot of how Australians spend their time, including the unpaid work that women continue to bear.
The activities that Australians spend most of their time, can broadly be divided into four categories: Personal care for self, employment and education, unpaid work and free time.
Women averaged 4 hours and 53 minutes per day doing unpaid work, such as housework, food and drink preparation and shopping, as well as looking after children, other adults and volunteering.
In comparison, men spent 3 hours and 52 minutes per day doing these unpaid domestic duties.
Survey data also shows mothers spend more time looking after children (4 hours 38 minutes) than fathers (3 hours 29 minutes), and this includes things like providing personal care such as feeding, bathing, changing, playing and helping with homework.
Just under one quarter (23 per cent) of people supervised a child while doing another activity, such as cooking, gardening or watching tv. Data shows they spent an average of 7 hours and 8 minutes per day doing so.
When doing paid work, nine per cent of people were also supervising a child for an average of 5 hours and 41 minutes per day.
People who work from home reported spending an hour longer doing unpaid work during their workday, averaging 3 hours and 24 minutes compared to those who worked from outside the home and averaged 2 hours and 26 minutes.
When it comes to time pressures, more than a third of females (36 per cent) and 30 per cent of males report always feeling rushed. The most common reason cited was balancing work and family.
People in couple families with children aged under 15 (51 per cent) were more likely to report feeling rushed or pressed for time than couple families with no children (26 per cent).
Looking at how people spent their free time, 62 per cent of people turned to the TV or streaming, averaging 2 hours and 55 minutes per day on this. And almost a quarter of young people aged 15-24 reported playing video or mobile games.
Young male gamers spent an average of 3 hours and 56 minutes per day gaming, while women spent 2 hours and 25 minutes doing the same.
Overall, women spent less time on free time activities like watching tv, sport and exercise and other social or recreational engagements.
Women spent an average of 5 hours and 21 minutes per day on these activities, while men spent an average of 5 hours 48 minutes per day.
The ABS survey is used by governments to inform policy about family support, gender equality, workplaces and the value of unpaid work and looking after children.