--- title: Dads Get More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends, Pew Study Says description: Moms aren't surprised canonical: https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-18T21:43:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:09.955Z og:title: Dads Get Way More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends og:description: Moms aren't surprised og:url: https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489fce6ec6d4ddea/69868b64cd6848250909437e/452425167.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 452425167 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dads Get Way More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends twitter:description: Moms aren't surprised twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489fce6ec6d4ddea/69868b64cd6848250909437e/452425167.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dads Get Way More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Apr 18, 2014 9:43 PM UTC  Toddler sitting in laundry basket, parents folding clothes, girl hiding under basket Toddler sitting in laundry basket, parents folding clothes, girl hiding under basketCultura/Flynn Larsen—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Apr 18, 2014 9:43 PM UTC We’ve known for a long time that mothers spend more time on childcare and housework than fathers in general, but on the weekends, mom and dad should get an equal amount of leisure time, right? Sadly—though perhaps unsurprisingly—for moms, that’s not how things usually go. [New analysis of Pew research](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/18/on-weekends-dads-find-more-time-for-leisure-than-moms/) shows that the “leisure gap” between fathers and mothers only gets bigger on the weekends. Though fathers and mothers have about the same amount of leisure time on weekdays (3.3 and 3.2 hours, respectively), dads get an hour more leisure time than moms on Saturdays and Sundays (5.5 hours, compared to a mother’s 4.5). And that’s despite the fact that dads are spending more time on housework and childcare than they do during the week: dads spend an average 1.1 hours on chores on weekdays (compared to moms’ 2.4 hours) but 2.0 hours on weekends (compared to moms’ 2.8). They also spend 1.0 hours on childcare on weekdays (compared to moms’ 2.1), but 1.1 on weekends (compared to moms’ 1.5). The moral of the story? Whether it’s the weekday or the weekend, dads need to spend less time on the golf course or watching TV and more time helping their wives take out the trash and play with the kids. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/"},"headline":"Dads Get Way More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends","datePublished":"2014-04-18T21:43:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:09.955Z","description":"A new Pew analysis shows that while fathers and mothers have about the same amount of leisure time on weekdays, dads get an hour more of it than moms on Saturdays and Sundays (5.5 hours, compared to a mother's 4.5)","url":"https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/","keywords":["Living","Parenting","Marriage","Family","Pew"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489fce6ec6d4ddea/69868b64cd6848250909437e/452425167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489fce6ec6d4ddea/69868b64cd6848250909437e/452425167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"452425167","caption":"452425167","creditText":"Cultura/Flynn Larsen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/68724/pew-study-dads-moms-leisure-time/","name":"Dads Get Way More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends"}}]}] ```