More Than Workload: How Lack of Time Control Limits Women’s Opportunities

The study shows that gender inequality is not just about women having less time, but about having less control over how they use it. Increasing women’s time-use flexibility is key to improving their employment opportunities, wellbeing, and overall empowerment.

In the global debate on gender inequality, time has long been seen as a burden that falls more heavily on women. They spend more hours cooking, cleaning, and caring for family members, often leaving little room for paid work or rest. But a new World Bank study suggests that the real issue goes deeper. It is not just about how much time women spend working, but how little control they have over how that time is used.

Produced by the World Bank’s Development Data Group with partners including the Living Standards Measurement Study program, the Africa Gender Innovation Lab, and global institutions such as the International Food Policy Research Institute and Oxford University, the research introduces a new idea: time-use agency. This concept focuses on whether people can decide how and when to carry out their daily activities.

What Is Time-Use Agency?

Time-use agency is about choice. It asks simple but powerful questions: Can you choose not to do a task? Can you decide when to do it? Can you ask someone else to help? For many women, the answer to these questions is often no.

Traditional studies have focused on measuring hours spent on different activities, leading to the idea of “time poverty.” But this new research shows that even when women have time, they may not have the freedom to use it the way they want. Their daily routines are often fixed by responsibilities and expectations they cannot easily change.

A New Way to Measure Daily Life

To understand this better, researchers carried out a study in Malawi using an innovative method. Instead of asking people to recall what they did, participants used a simple smartphone app to record their activities in real time. This gave a much clearer picture of how people actually spend their days.

Alongside this, a survey asked whether participants could adjust or avoid certain activities. This combination allowed researchers to measure not just time use, but flexibility in time use.

Women’s Time Is More Rigid

The findings are striking. Women are not only working more than men, especially in unpaid domestic work, but their time is also far less flexible. Tasks like cooking, fetching water, or caring for children are often non-negotiable and must be done at specific times.

Women spend a larger share of their day on these inflexible activities. In contrast, men’s limited flexibility is often linked to leisure or isolated tasks, which do not affect their ability to work or earn.

This difference is crucial. It shows that women’s time is not just full, it is tightly controlled by responsibilities they cannot easily shift or share.

Why Flexibility Matters for Jobs and Wellbeing

The study finds that a lack of flexibility has serious consequences. Women who have less control over their time are less likely to look for jobs or want to work more hours. Even if opportunities exist, they may not be able to take them because their daily responsibilities cannot be rearranged.

Within households, the imbalance is even clearer. Women often carry a greater share of non-flexible work than men, and this affects their well-being. They have less leisure time, are more likely to face health issues, and often have weaker control over assets like land.

This shows that inequality is not just about workload, but about who has the power to decide how time is used.

A Shift in Policy Thinking

The findings challenge the way policymakers have approached gender inequality. Reducing workloads through better infrastructure or technology is important, but it is not enough. If women still cannot control their schedules, real change will remain limited.

The study suggests that policies should focus on increasing flexibility. This could include better childcare services, support for sharing household responsibilities, and efforts to change social norms that place the burden of care mainly on women.

In simple terms, empowerment is not just about having time, but about having control over it. Until women can decide how to use their time, the gap between men and women in work, health, and opportunity will continue to exist.