Press release | 14. Oktober 2020 | sn

The rediscovery of slowness – how the coronavirus lockdown has increased the time wealth of our lives

The “ReZeitKon” project reveals the particular challenges faced by women and key workers

During the coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020, our time wealth slightly increased and our life satisfaction remained constant. On average, people slept for an extra 27 minutes per day and worked 69 minutes less. However, clear differences emerged regarding gender and the type of work people do.

People working in critical areas, for example, experienced a reduction in time wealth. During the coronavirus lockdown, they worked on average 34.3 hours per week compared with 29.2 hours worked by other groups. Women were disadvantaged during this period by the fact that they were required to take on most parenting and care duties.

Less multi-tasking

These are the key findings of a survey conducted as part of the “ReZeitKon - “Time Rebound, Time Wealth and Sustainable Consumption” research project, led by Professor Dr. Ulf Schrader and Dr. Sonja Geiger of the Chair of Economic Education and Sustainable Consumption at TU Berlin. The researchers interviewed almost 1000 working people in February and again in April 2020. The researchers define time wealth as having sufficient quantities of free time. This includes being able to work at a reasonable speed, defining for ourselves what we do with our time (time sovereignty), the capacity to plan as well as manage the various demands on our time (synchronization).

The researchers at TU Berlin believe there may be a number of developments to account for this subjective sense of time wealth during the coronavirus lockdown. “Our survey showed that people on average worked less and slept more during the lockdown,” says Dr. Stefanie Gerold, one of the research associates working in the project. “This meant that at least in part people were able to fulfill their wishes for shorter working times and more sleep. At the same time, we also witnessed a certain slowing down during the coronavirus lockdown,” says Geiger. “This revealed itself in a clear reduction in time-saving practices like multi-tasking and less need to complete everything quickly – all of these factors could have contributed to greater time wealth.”

The project runs until August 2021, during which time the researchers will continue their investigations into which factors determine how people perceive a sense of time wealth and how this in turn impacts on our sense of well-being and sustainable consumption. Despite the generally positive developments, we need to bear in mind that not all groups in society enjoy the same levels of time wealth. “People working in crucial professions, and men and women with children tend to experience less time wealth,” says Geiger.

People working in crucial professions generally had to work more than people in other groups. Crucial professions include healthcare and other forms of care, the police, the fire department, public transport, retail, public services, and education and childcare. Compared to other groups, people in these professions work more and have a stronger desire to reduce their working hours. During the coronavirus lockdown, the weekly hours worked by people in crucial professions dropped from 37.5 to 34.3 per week. For other groups, the decrease in weekly hours worked was considerably more, falling from 36.9 hours per week to 29.2. People working in crucial professions also had less opportunities to switch to working from home.

Women took on more care duties than men

“How people use their time differs greatly between the sexes,” says Gerold. Women spend considerably less time in paid work but devote more of their time to unpaid work, such as housework, looking after children and caring for relatives. During the pandemic, the number of hours devoted to care duties by both sexes increased considerably as a result of the closure of schools and daycare facilities. The majority of this work was, however, taken on by women, meaning that the gender divide actually increased during the pandemic lockdown. “In February, women devoted on average 116 minutes per day to care duties and men 58 minutes. In April, these numbers had increased to 153 minutes and 74 minutes respectively. This means that the difference between the two sexes increased from 58 to 79 minutes per day,” explains Gerold.

With regard to sustainable consumption, no significant changes were observable. The survey asked about issues such as purchasing organic food and products with eco-labels. There was a slight reduction in sufficient consumer behavior categories, such as “second-hand buying” and “renting and borrowing”, reflecting the fact that options such as flea markets and libraries were closed during the lockdown. The survey did not show if there had been any changes regarding flights or how people heat.

 

A third survey is planned for the start of 2021, where the researchers will examine to what extent the slowing down in part enforced by the lockdown has been consciously continued.

“ReZeitKon” is being funded until 31 August 2021. It has been assigned a total of 1,148,000 euros by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of its “Rebound-Effekte” social-ecological research program. The project’s partners are the Leuphana University Lüneberg (UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI Karlsruhe.

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