Gendered inequality in leisure emerges early and persists throughout adolescence, with girls universally engaging in less leisure than boys across seven countries, driven primarily by lower engagement in sports/exercise, and showing little evidence that more gender-equal countries have smaller gender gaps.
Key Findings
Results
Girls universally engage in less weekend leisure time than boys across all seven countries studied.
The study used time diary data from seven countries spanning the West, Asia, and Africa
The gender gap in leisure was found across early adolescence (ages 10-13) and late adolescence (ages 14-17)
The analysis focused specifically on weekend days, when adolescents have the most discretionary time
The universal nature of the gap held regardless of national context or level of gender equality
Results
Lower engagement in sports and exercise among girls is the primary driver of the gender gap in leisure time.
Sports/exercise was identified as the key activity domain explaining girls' leisure deficit relative to boys
The gap in sports/exercise engagement was especially pronounced for girls in Asian countries
This pattern was consistent across the multiple countries included in the analysis
The finding highlights physical activity as a particularly gender-stratified domain of adolescent leisure
Results
There is little evidence that more gender-equal countries have smaller gender gaps in adolescent weekend leisure.
The study explicitly tested whether national-level gender equality corresponded to smaller leisure gaps
Countries representing varying levels of gender equality were included in the seven-country sample
The finding challenges the assumption that macro-level gender equality translates directly into reduced leisure inequalities among adolescents
This result suggests structural or cultural factors beyond national gender equality indices shape adolescent leisure patterns
Results
Boys and girls engage in gender-typical leisure activities, with boys spending more time on computer/internet use and girls spending more time in conversation.
Computer and internet use was disproportionately higher among boys across countries
Conversation as a leisure activity was disproportionately higher among girls
These patterns reflect broader gender-typed behavioral norms extending into discretionary time
The gender-typed activity patterns were observed across the full age range of 10 to 17 years
Results
Engagement in sports and exercise declines between early and late adolescence, and gender gaps in leisure persist across ages in all countries except Belgium.
The decline in sports/exercise occurred across the adolescent age span studied (ages 10-17)
Belgium was the only country where some narrowing of the gender gap across age was observed
In all other countries, gender gaps in overall leisure persisted across early and late adolescence
The cross-national consistency of this persistence underscores the robustness of the finding
Results
Any narrowing of gender gaps across age occurs through boys reducing their sports/exercise engagement or increasing conversation, not through girls gaining leisure time.
Where age-related narrowing of the gender gap was detected, it was attributable to changes in boys' behavior rather than girls' gains
Boys either lowered their sports/exercise participation or increased time in conversation as they aged
Girls showed only a decline in overall leisure time across adolescence
This asymmetric pattern means girls do not experience increased leisure access as they grow older
Methods
The study used time diary data from seven countries spanning the West, Asia, and Africa to examine weekend leisure among adolescents aged 10 to 17 since 2010.
Time diary methodology was used, which captures detailed daily activity patterns
The sample covered countries across geographically and culturally diverse regions including East Asia, the Global South, and Western nations
The analysis focused on weekend days specifically, rather than averaging across weekdays and weekends as most prior studies do
Data were collected since 2010, providing a contemporary picture of adolescent leisure
The age range spanned early adolescence (10-13 years) through late adolescence (14-17 years)
What This Means
This research suggests that teenage girls consistently have less free time than teenage boys on weekends, and this inequality appears across very different countries including those in Western Europe, Asia, and Africa. The biggest reason for this gap is that girls spend much less time on sports and exercise than boys do, with the difference being especially large in Asian countries. The researchers found this by analyzing detailed time diaries — records of how adolescents actually spend their time hour by hour — from seven countries, focusing specifically on weekends when young people have the most choice about what to do.
One particularly striking finding is that living in a country that is considered more gender-equal at the societal level does not seem to protect girls from having less leisure time than boys. This suggests that even in places where women and men have more equal rights and opportunities in adult life, the leisure time of teenage girls is still constrained compared to teenage boys. The activities that boys and girls do in their free time also follow traditional gender patterns: boys spend more time on computers and the internet, while girls spend more time in conversation.
This research also suggests that the situation does not improve as girls get older — in fact, girls' overall leisure time tends to decline from early to late adolescence, while any narrowing of the gap between boys and girls happens mainly because boys do less sport as they age, not because girls gain more free time. The finding that gender inequality in leisure begins early and continues throughout the teenage years points to deeply rooted social patterns that influence how young people — particularly girls — are able to spend their discretionary time, with potential implications for physical activity, wellbeing, and the development of gender equality more broadly.
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Chang G, Bhattacharya L, Kan M. (2026). Persistent gender gaps in weekend leisure from ages 10 to 17: A multi-national time diary analysis since 2010.. Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.70268