Time use, purchasing power, and job satisfaction: Correlation and comparison between working women with children and working women without children

BACKGROUND: There are few correlational studies comparing family-work reconciliation between groups of women. OBJECTIVE: We intend to correlate and compare the use of time, purchasing power, and job satisfaction between two groups of working women, women with children and women without children. METHODS: This is a correlational and comparative study. The following instruments were used: Activities Diary; Brazilian Criteria for Economic Classification; and the short version of the Quality of Working Life Questionnaire. A total of 171 women participated in the study: one group was composed of 78 women with children and the other group was composed of 93 women without children. Data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Wilcoxon test, Student's t-test and the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. RESULTS: Women with children spent more hours/day on hygiene, taking care of elderly individuals, practicing their religion, and studying (p = 0.001), but they presented no statistical differences in job satisfaction from those women without children (p = 0.2362). Women with children belonged to a higher economic classification and had greater purchasing power than women without children. CONCLUSIONS: Having children is a variable that influences time use, purchasing power, and job satisfaction among women and the presence of children is a factor that may increase the purchasing power of a woman.