Valuing Household Work and Well-being in Pakistan: A Gender-Based Time-Use Analysis

Abstract

This study explores the well-being of individuals involved in household work and expenditure-saving market work by employing a time-use dimension. Further, the share of household work and expenditure-saving market work in GDP is estimated at the macro level and by gender. Data of this study is collected from Labour Force Survey of Pakistan for the period 1994, 2001, 2007, 2014 and 2018. Well- Being index is constructed by using the study of Floro and Pichetpongsa (2010) and Kaur and Uppal (2015). The results of this study reveal that men's well-being index is higher than women's, due to their lower work intensity and higher education attainment. Moreover, the well-being index of urban women is higher than that of rural women, as they are involved in household and market work to save on expenditure; hence, an uneven burden on them leads to a stressful life. Further, they are deprived of educational opportunities. The share of household work would increase from 31% to 43.35% for the period 1994-2017 if included in GDP, and women's share would be higher, as they shoulder household responsibilities. The share of expenditure-saving market work has declined from 23.08% to 9.14% for the period 1994-2017 when included in GDP. Based on these findings, this research will contribute to increasing understanding among policymakers and researchers of the economic contributions made by women through their household and expenditure-saving market work.