Time Use Week 2026 gets under way
The 13th Time Use Week is being held from 19 to 21 October and addresses the social acceleration in well-being. Under the title “Social acceleration and the right to time: Policies for Sustainable Well-being”, the event involves more than fifty cities and some thirty experts from around the world.
Time Use Week is an international event promoting knowledge, debate and the exchange of good practice in time policies to move towards a fairer, healthier and more equal and sustainable social organisation of time. We live in an ever-faster society and that can generate a sensation of a lack of time, being washed out and having difficulty disconnecting.
This all affects well-being and the way we organise different times in our life. Some figures that help contextualise this come from the campaign MyTimeMatters and the Catalan Time Use Survey. The following data stand out:
- 54% of people in our country have difficulty balancing their working life, personal and family time (56% women and 52% men).
- 77 % of working people in our country state that they work at a high pace with tight time frames.
- 32% of women and 25% of men suffer time poverty: nearly one in three women and one in four men.
- Among people with children, those percentages rise to 38% among women and 32% among men: nearly four in ten women and one in three men.
- 16% of the European population state that they do not take part in civic or democratic activities as they haven’t got enough time.
- 54% of young Europeans devote around six hours a day to the use of screens for leisure.
In this context, time for relaxation, care, reflection, participation and relationships is often undermined or invisible, when it is more necessary than ever.
Reduction of the gender gap in Catalonia
New data in the Time Use Survey of Catalonia show a reduction in gender divides, even though women continue to devote 1 hour 13 minutes a day more than men to housework and care, meaning 33 minutes less to leisure each day. In addition, some 56% of women plan housework and care of the family alone, compared to 16% of men.
Activities around Catalonia and beyond
Time Use Week will include over 70 activities, particularly around Catalonia and for the first time, also in Europe and Latin America. The activities include talks, discussions, film forums, artistic proposals and specific actions for change within organisations.
