We use the 2015 Canadian time use survey to analyze gender differences in desired alone time and the gender gap in parenting time for Canadian parents with at least one child under five years of age (N = 1120). Over half of mothers with young children report desiring more alone time compared to about one-third of fathers. For mothers, household work, parenting time, and market work are predictive of self-reporting desired alone time. Surprisingly, for fathers and mothers, the desire to have more alone time is not predicted by actual alone time. Compared to fathers, mothers with young children spend more time in parenting and household work but less time in market work and alone time. We find that the gender gap in parenting remains persistent and predominantly unexplained by characteristic differences between mothers and fathers. After controlling for those differences and other demographic factors, results suggest that mothers desire more alone time than fathers as parenting and household labor time increases. We argue that the amount and higher level of responsibilities and stress faced by mothers parenting young children lead to personal isolation resulting in a desire to spend time alone. Fathers who play a less central role in domestic work have more time and energy to engage in their jobs and desire less alone time. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of these findings.

我们使用 2015 年加拿大时间使用调查来分析至少有一名五岁以下孩子的加拿大父母在所需独处时间方面的性别差异以及养育时间的性别差距（N = 1120）。超过一半的有年幼孩子的母亲表示希望有更多的独处时间，而只有三分之一的父亲则希望有更多的独处时间。对于母亲来说，家务劳动、养育孩子的时间和市场工作可以预测自我报告所需的独处时间。令人惊讶的是，对于父亲和母亲来说，拥有更多独处时间的愿望并不是通过实际的独处时间来预测的。与父亲相比，有小孩的母亲花在养育子女和家务上的时间更多，但花在市场工作和独处的时间更少。我们发现，养育子女方面的性别差距仍然持续存在，并且主要无法用母亲和父亲之间的特征差异来解释。在控制了这些差异和其他人口因素后，结果表明，随着育儿和家务劳动时间的增加，母亲比父亲渴望更多的独处时间。我们认为，养育幼儿的母亲所面临的责任和压力更大，会导致个人孤立，从而导致她们渴望独处。在家务工作中扮演不太重要角色的父亲有更多的时间和精力从事工作，并且渴望更少的独处时间。我们讨论这些发现的理论和政策含义。