Widening the Gap? Temperature and Time Allocation between Men and Women

Abstract

Gender differences in time use have been documented in the literature, but knowledge about the nature of such gender gaps remains limited. This study aims to examine whether changes in temperature, affect gender differentials in time allocation and the potential mechanisms through which the responses might operate. Based on the time use survey data, we find that, relative to men, women decrease their labour supply by approximately one hour during days with extremely high temperatures, despite having fewer working hours than men over the entire distribution of temperature. However, gender differentials in the time allocated to housework and leisure change little with temperature. Our further investigation indicates a substantial part of the gender gap can be explained by gender disparity in family responsibilities due to marriage and parenthood. The gender gap in supply to the market work is more pronounced for those with young children.