Using Harmonised European Time-Use Survey (HETUS) data, this study shows how care work that takes place outside the marketplace represents an essential and distinctive part of national economies. Cross-national comparisons show persistent patterns and differences in observed gender inequalities on total workload and care responsibilities. This country-by-country and group-by-group analysis is based on cluster methodology. The main finding is that including time use in gendered analyses of welfare regimes shows how unpaid care work is at the core of gender inequality in all countries. The results of this analysis indicate that Eastern European countries are very heterogeneous and are distributed across three out of the four clusters obtained, a finding that constitutes a new departure point for analysis. Based on these findings, this study makes public policy recommendations about the importance of time-use surveys and how to improve the quality of care without decreasing women's well-being and autonomy.