How can we reconcile the apparent gender equity in the objective quantity of leisure with the subjective impression of increased time pressure among women? In my view, the answer lies in considering the density or quality of leisure time available, and not simply the quantity. For example, the tendency to perform multiple and overlapping tasks simultaneously creates a distinctive experience of leisure. It would be seen as a form of work intensification that increases productivity if it were paid. Such evidence as we have suggests that multitasking has greatly increased over the last quarter of the twentieth century.47 This could be taken as an objective measure of the acceleration of the pace of life.
We must therefore distinguish between degrees of leisure. In popular discourse, leisure is conceived of as free time, time at one’s disposal, or pure leisure. Such leisure with no distracting accompanying activities to constrain it is diferent from a leisure activity that is accompanied by a constraining activity. Using detailed Australian time-diary evidence, I was able to measure and compare periods of pure leisure, when the primary activity reported is a free time activity with no secondary activity, with periods of interrupted leisure contaminated by a simultaneous secondary activity.48
This aspect of the lived experience of leisure is at the heart of feminist commentary on the gendered nature of leisure. Analyses of multitasking have usually focused on combinations of domestic labor tasks, such as ironing while watching television. I also analyzed the combination of parental leisure time spent together with children (that is, free time with children). The significant growth in this kind of leisure is one of the main ways that parents have managed to spend more time with their children.49 But what are the consequences of this for the character of leisure?
One could argue that the best leisure is achieved when playing with one’s own children. However it is my contention that this may involve a trade-of when it comes to the quality of that leisure time. The enjoyment of leisure that is combined with other activities might be lower for the parent or the child or for both. The fact that parents derive considerable pleasure from attending to their children’s needs does not detract from the argument that they may, at the same time, be experiencing an adult leisure deficit.
Chapter three
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