Self-care gap expands as female lawyers spend less time on themselves, report more burnout
Female lawyers have reported that they spent 5.6 hours per week on self-care, compared to 8.9 hours per week reported by male lawyers, according to a new Bloomberg Law survey. Image from Shutterstock.
Female lawyers are spending less time on self-care and experiencing more burnout than their male counterparts, according to new survey findings.
Female lawyers reported that they spent 5.6 hours per week on self-care, compared to 8.9 hours per week reported by male lawyers, according to Bloomberg Law’s biannual Attorney Workload & Hours Survey. Two years ago, female lawyers spent only 1.1 hours less time on self-care than male lawyers.
Bloomberg Law has a story on findings from the survey, which was conducted in August and focused on the first half of 2023.
Female lawyers said they felt burned out in their jobs an average of 56% of the time, compared to 41% of the time by male lawyers. The findings were similar last year, according to the article.
Female lawyers also reported experiencing more problems than males because of work, including disrupted sleep, anxiety, physical health issues and depression. Only 10% of female lawyers said they experienced none of the eight problems listed because of work, compared to 21% of male lawyers.
Hours and billable hours are decreasing for men and women. The average reported weekly hours decreased from 53 hours in the first half of 2021 to 48 hours in the latest survey. The average billable hours decreased from an average of 42 in the first half of 2021 to 37 in the new survey.
Although both sexes are working and billing less, female lawyers “have consistently reported working and billing at least one hour more per week than male attorney respondents,” the article reports.
