Senior women and men spend their time in different ways 2

Senior men are more likely to participate in outdoor activities than senior women (30% versus 10%). When senior men do outdoor work, they spend more than one extra hour (an additional 67 minutes) on it than senior women.

In addition to taking unpaid household work into account, it is also important to examine other types of activities such as leisure and recreational pursuits and television watching. Various types of leisure activities have different implications for well-being and ageing. For example, some activities can help maintain physical and social capabilities and promote health, while others are less beneficial as they are more sedentary and can be more socially isolating. Activities such as socializing and communicating; volunteering; walking; exercising; participating in organized sports; attending cultural events; pursuing hobbies; writing letters, books and poems; and using technology such as the Internet engage seniors. Passive leisure activities, on the other hand, refer to unstructured or passive forms of activity. These include watching television, listening to music and reading.

For active pursuits, senior men were more likely to engage in leisure and physical activities (44% versus 39%) while senior women were more likely to participate in socializing and communicating (46% versus 37%). For passive leisure activities, senior women were more likely to read (41% versus 35%) while senior men were more likely to watch television (87% versus 82%).

Although senior men and senior women may participate in different activities, the amount of time they spend on these activities is not significantly different. The only exception is watching television as senior women spend less time, on average, on this activity (3.9 hours versus 4.2 hours per day).

Senior women and men spend their time in different ways

This table displays the results of Participation rate and time spent on selected activities Participation rate, Average time spent (participants), Men (ref.) and Women, calculated using percent, minutes and hours units of measure (appearing as column headers).
	Participation rate		Average time spent (participants)
	Men (ref.)	Women	Men (ref.)	Women	Men (ref.)	Women
	percent		minutes		hours
Paid work	13	6	398	343	6.6	5.7
Unpaid household work	83	91	177	209	2.9	3.5
Meal preparation	61	76	78	91	1.3	1.5
Indoor cleaning	33	68	75	122	1.2	2.0
Outdoor cleaning/maintenance	30	10	166	99	2.8	1.7
Other unpaid work	28	34	86	80	1.4	1.3
Shopping for goods and services	36	39	82	87	1.4	1.4
Active pursuits	75	77	213	209	3.6	3.5
Engaging in civic, religious and organizational activities	8	10	119	131	2.0	2.2
Socializing and communicating	37	46	135	135	2.2	2.2
Engaging in cultural activities	3	4	138	156	2.3	2.6
Engaging in leisure and physical activities	44	39	132	133	2.2	2.2
Using technology	30	27	129	110	2.1	1.8
Passive leisure activities	92	89	291	276	4.9	4.6
Watching television or videos	87	82	255	235	4.2	3.9
Listening to music and radio	6	3	104	109	1.7	1.8
Reading	35	41	119	119	2.0	2.0
Sleeping	100	100	542	544	9.0	9.1
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, 2015.

Senior women and men spend their time in different ways. This suggests that gender differences in paid and domestic work persist among seniors, even though they have generally transitioned out of employment and parental roles. For example, the participation rate for paid work among senior men (i.e., the proportion of persons who reported having done an activity on an average day) was 13% versus 6% for senior women.

There are also differences in unpaid household work. The participation rate for senior women was 91% versus 83% for senior men. Further examination of unpaid household work showed differences in the participation rates for certain activities. For example, senior women are two times more likely than senior men (68% versus 33%) to do some indoor cleaning during the day, and they are also more likely to engage in meal preparation than their male counterparts (76% versus 61%). At the same time, women aged 65 and over reported spending, on average, significantly more time on these activities. For instance, senior women spent an average of 47 more minutes per day on indoor cleaning and 13 more minutes on meal preparation.

Factors that affect the time use of seniors 1

Seniors are increasing as a percentage of the population. According to the 2016 Census, there were 5.9 million seniors in Canada, which accounted for 16.9% of the total population. In comparison, there were 2.4 million seniors in 1981 or 10% of the population.

The first baby boomers turned 65 in 2011, which has led to the largest increase (+20%) in the number of seniors in Canada in 70 years. In addition, although they represent a relatively small proportion of the overall senior population, centenarians were the fastest-growing population between 2011 and 2016 (+41%). The overall population in Canada, in comparison, grew by 5% during the same period.

As a result of the rapid increase in the number of seniors, 2016 marked the first time that the census enumerated more seniors than children aged 14 and under.

The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is also expected to continue to increase over the coming decades and, by 2031, there may be as many as 9.6 million seniors in Canada, which would represent 23% of the total population. An ageing population has important implications as more Canadians are receiving an old age pension and are seeking health care and services, while housing and transportations needs are also changing. As a result, understanding the factors associated with time use among this growing population can provide information for policymakers to develop long-term strategies.

Another important factor is that the senior population is increasingly female, given that women have a longer life expectancy than men. According to the 2016 Census, among seniors (aged 65 and over), the number of women exceeded the number of men by more than 20%, while there were two women for every man in the population aged 85 and over.

Housework is defined as exercise, so it in good to see that both men and women are engaging in this type of physical activity. In 2015, 91% of senior women (aged 65 and over) engaged in unpaid household work on a typical day, compared with 83% of senior men. When they engaged in unpaid household work, senior women also spent more time on such activities (3.5 hours a day) than senior men did (2.9 hours).

About three-quarters of men and women aged 65 and over engaged in other active pursuits such as socializing and using technology, spending approximately 3.5 hours doing so on a typical day. A further 9 in 10 seniors also engaged in passive leisure activities such as watching television and reading.

Factors that affect the time use of seniors include age, sex, employment status, educational attainment and living arrangements. Older seniors, for example, spend more time on passive leisure activities (e.g., watching television and reading) and sleep more than younger seniors.

Health status also affects seniors’ participation in some activities. Seniors who reported that their health was poor or fair were less likely to participate in socializing and reading, as well as civic, religious and organizational activities than those who said that their health status was excellent or very good.

Between 1986 and 2015, the participation rate of senior women in active pursuits declined, from 77% to 69%. In addition, both senior men and women decreased their average time spent on active pursuits over the period, by 35 minutes and 40 minutes a day, respectively.

How do you spend your time?

A growing body of research is examining how older Canadians spend their time.  Over the next few posts, I will take a look at the research put out by Stats Canada on this issue. The findings are important because in Canada people are retiring later and living longer. For example, the 2016 Census showed that more people are working past the age of 65: nearly 1 in 5 Canadians aged 65 and over reported working at some point during the previous year, which was almost double the proportion in 1995.

Understanding how my generation spend our time is essential as many of us continue to contribute to society in other ways (such as volunteering and caregiving)—our contributions do not end when we are no longer formally employed. Research has found that those of us who volunteer give more hours than those in any other age group. Our generation is more likely to engage in charitable giving and, although we are the least common group of caregivers, we are the most likely to spend the greatest number of hours providing care.

Once my age group retires, what are we doing with our free time? We could be using our time to volunteer, exercise or travel or we could be spending our post-retirement years in a more inactive way. Existing research has shown that, as we age, there is a definite shift in time allocation from paid work to leisure activities. It is also important to note that, according to this research, part of that increase can be attributed to more passive leisure activities and not necessarily active pursuits. In addition, existing health research has found that many of us spend the most time on sedentary activities.

Existing research shows the importance of being socially engaged throughout the ageing process. Ageing is a transitional period when people experience changes not only in physical health but also in social roles that can influence how seniors organize their time and social activities. Social engagement in meaningful activities and maintaining close relationships is important for many older adults. Maintaining connections to family and friends, however, may be more difficult for my generation, because our social networks become smaller with age.