Time Budgets of Working Mothers Living in Central Tokyo

An Analysis of the Impacts of the Internet

Abstract

 In recent years, population recovery and gentrification have become increasingly common in the city centers of most developed countries. The emergence of relatively new gender relations has been observed in city centers, such as single female households and families having two incomes and no children. The purpose of my work is to examine the factors that enable working mothers who live in city centers to simultaneously manage their jobs and housekeeping, focusing especially on the impacts of the Internet. An activity diary survey conducted on working mothers living in central Tokyo revealed that they allocate more time to work than do working mothers who live in the suburbs. So, working mothers who live in the city center have tight time budgets. The survey also showed that reducing time devoted to housekeeping tasks is crucial to balance work with housekeeping. So, housekeeping time was scrutinized under different conditions to determine the factors that would contribute to reducing it. The results showed that Internet services such as e-commerce do not contribute to reducing housekeeping time over a single day. Therefore, whether Internet services reduce housekeeping time over longer periods such as one week or one month should be examined. Allocating housework to husbands definitely reduces housekeeping time. The share of housework shared by husbands living in the city center is greater than that shared by husbands living in suburban areas. Therefore, living in the city center leads to a reorganization of the time budgets of households. For husbands, living in the city center can reduce commuting time and increase time devoted to housekeeping. For working mothers, living in the city center can increase time devoted to work. This reorganization indicates that comparatively new gender relations are emerging in central Tokyo.