In search of a comprehensive picture of the gender gap: An examination of male and female choices of labor supply, leisure, consumption, and home production

This paper investigates single individuals’ different choices over time use (labor supply, home production time input, and leisure) and consumption (market consumption goods, home production goods). To this effect, I use the structural model of the Almost Ideal Demand System with a Cobb-Douglas home production function. Consequently, the simulation results indicate that, if women are paid the same hourly wages as men, they receive a similar income (98.7%), and the market labor supply gap almost disappears. However, in home production, the gender gap persists. That is, women are more involved in home production than men, even if their wages are identical. Women’s home production technology reduces the labor supply by only 1.7% compared to men’s. Overall, the results indicate that the income gap would disappear by diminishing the hourly wage gap. However, the home production gap is not likely to disappear, and it most probably caused by gender identity