'Household Work A Second-Shift': Study Reveals Women Spend Double The Hours On Unpaid Domestic Work Than Men

It is a known fact that women spend more time engaged in unpaid household activities compared to their male counterparts. This could be attributed greatly to the patriarchal system, which has assigned women the role of caretakers and men as the breadwinners.

Despite the shift in traditional roles and gender stereotypes, the burden of household work continues to be laid upon the shoulders of women. The research paper titled "Time Use Data: A Tool for Gendered Policy Analysis" looks into these claims and, for the first time, attempts to quantify the amount of time spent by Indian women in unpaid domestic work.

Fulfilling Professional & Domestic Roles

The research conducted by a professor from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, based the findings on a Time Use Survey (TUS) of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The study revealed that women in the working age category of 15 to 60 years spent at least 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work compared to men, who spent about 2.8 hours. These numbers were a clear indication of the "time poverty" between the genders.

Speaking about the research's TUS method, Prof Namrata Chindarkar stated, "we can now point out the exact hours' women in the working age category spend on unpaid domestic work." Time-use data has gained significance over the years as a tool to examine gender inequality. Studies based on such time-use surveys have been instrumental in Europe to understand the time allocation between women and men across various activities. Such studies have aided countries in finding that women spend more time fulfilling the basic needs of the household from cleaning to caregiving.

A TUS conducted by the NSSO in 2019 was the first national TUS conducted for India, and it collected data using a 24-hour time diary from 4 am to 4 am on a typical day of the week. Working with this data, the paper assessed whether these pre-set expectations from gender roles shape the allocation of time between women and men in the country. It was found that even wage-earning women spend double the time on unpaid domestic work compared to wage-earning men. The male member's participation in fulfilling the household's basic needs, such as cleaning, preparing meals, and caregiving, was minimal.

Severity Of Time Burden

Chindarkar said that the average time spent on activities does not alone provide an insight into the severity of the time burden. For this, the study examined time poverty in terms of overwork based on the OECD definition of working more than fifty hours per week. Based on this exploration, the study found that women are 24 per cent more likely to enjoy less leisure time than men. Meanwhile, wage-earning men are 72 per cent more likely to be overworked compared to women. Men were also found to spend around 150 minutes more per day on paid employment in comparison to women.

A possible explanation of this division could be the differences in the nature of occupations held by both genders. It sheds light on the gendered patterns and how a greater proportion of women's time is expected to be devoted to fulfilling domestic responsibilities irrespective of their employment status. For women in employment, the household chores are an extension as a "second shift."

Policy- Level Shift For Women

Moving toward a policy-level shift, the study analysed the theory that effective public services, such as access to clean cooking energy and electricity, can alleviate women's time burden. The TUS data suggested that women using LPG or other clean cooking fuels spend less time on unpaid domestic activities than those using traditional fuels.

The former enjoy an additional leisure time of 41 to 80 minutes compared to the latter. Additionally, women from households with proper electricity enjoyed about 35 minutes more leisure time than those not having electricity as their primary source of light.

While the research paper finds that the magnitude of this difference is small, it suggests the TUS can be used effectively to form government policies for women. According to a New Indian Express report, TUS can be used to enhance understanding the effects of social norms and gender roles, which could then contribute to an effective feedback loop to strengthen policy design.

Also Read: 7 In 10 Indian Working Women Quit Or Consider Quitting Jobs Due To Inflexible Work Environment: Survey