Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16792
Authors: Taryn Dinkelman; Liwa Rachel Ngai
Abstract: Many African countries are still in the early stages of structural transformation. Typically, as economies move through the structural transformation, activities once conducted within the household are outsourced to the market. This has particular implications for women’s time use. In this paper, we document that current patterns of female time use in home production in several African countries closely resemble historical time use patterns in the US. We highlight two stylized facts about women’s time use in Africa. First, in North Africa, women spend very few hours in market work and female labor force participation overall is extremely low. Second, although extensive margin participation of women is high in sub-Saharan Africa, women tend to work in the market for only a few hours each week, with the rest of their work hours spent in home production. These two facts suggest two types of constraints that could slow down the reallocation of femaletime from home to market as economies grow: Social norms related to women’s market work, and a lack of infrastructure (e.g. household infrastructure and childcare facilities) to facilitate marketizing home production. We discuss recent empirical evidence related to each set of constraints and highlight new avenues for research.
Keywords: Africa; Time Use; Work; Home Production; Structural Transformation
JEL Codes: O11; O12; D13; J22; O55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Structural transformation (L16) | outsourcing of household activities (D13) |
| outsourcing of household activities (D13) | improved gender equality in labor market outcomes (J79) |
| social norms (Z13) | low female labor force participation (J21) |
| infrastructure constraints (H54) | low female labor force participation (J21) |
| social norms (Z13) | limited market hours for women (J29) |
| infrastructure constraints (H54) | limited market hours for women (J29) |
| high female labor force participation (J21) | few hours worked in the market (J29) |
| few hours worked in the market (J29) | spending majority of time in home production (D13) |