Gender Differences in Leisure Time

Leisure time is a space in which persons can present their values and interests without worries and tension, show their power and resistance and fulfil their role as representatives of their social class. However, in this context some believe that gender has acted as a super social class factor and has caused differences and inequality between women and men and have led to women’s leisure time being vague, little, withdrawn, generally spent at home and mixed with household activities and maternal duties The present article focuses upon gender as one of social divisions that may lead to inequality and, accordingly, has examined gender as a factor in explaining differences in the leisure time discussed. This survey is based on the documentary method and has used 43 scientific articles and theses with a Meta analysis approach to examine and analyze the data using SPSS software. The use of comprehensive Meta analysis, from documenting to descriptive findings and also combining the quantitative survey’s results in the Meta analysis, has achieved the following results that have shown gender effects in different dimensions of leisure time: 1- The amount of Leisure time and mode of passing it, is influenced by gender and this factor in mode of transmission is highly tangible. 2- The amount of leisure time for men is more than for women. 3- Leisure preferences in men and women are different, so that women’s leisure time is oriented more to the family and the highest priority for them is being at home while, among men, physical leisure activities especially sport have a high priority and targeted leisure activities also have a higher priority among men. 4- Women’s satisfaction in the field of leisure is less than men’s.