Continuum of Paid and Unpaid Work
Indira Hirway
CFDA, Ahmedabad
Feminist Economics in China and India
11-13 November, 2013
New Delhi
Unpaid Work: Major Characteristics
• What is unpaid work?
– Within production boundary
– Within General Production Boundary
• Major characteristics of unpaid work under General
Production Boundary
–
–
–
–
–
Significant in size and important role in the economy
Unequal sharing
Mostly invisible and outside the purview of policy making
Low productivity – frequently drudgery
Division based on social norms – no free choice.
Continued….
• Unpaid work is inferior work
–
–
–
–
Work is repetitive, boring
Without much prospects for upward mobility – dead end job
No (Fixed) retirement, no benefits like pension etc.
Not under any regulation/laws etc
• Women carry higher burden of total work
– Frequently resulting in time poverty (time stress) and loss of
well being of women - even when the HH is above poverty
– Time allocation among different activities also trap the poor
in poverty
Activity
Av time
UP-M
Av time
UP-F
Av time
NP-M
Av time
NP-F
HH mangmt etc
1.97
25.62
1.18
30.64
care
2.87
6.20
0.51
4.05
Comm services
0.04
0.04
1.18
0.27
Sub total
4.28
30.86
3.77
34.86
Learning
11.05
4.79
13.08
7.29
Socialisation
3.13
2.15
6.26
6.07
Personal care
103.37
99.66
100.80
95.36
Total personal
care
117.55
108.60
119.04
110.72
Total Work –SNA
& non SNA
53.14
58.72
48.83
54.49
Continuum of paid and unpaid work
• Production process takes place in the market and nonmarket spheres – till consumption takes place
• Human capital formation takes place in the market and
non-market spheres
• Demarcation between what goes in the national income
and what does not is an arbitrary compromise
• The demarcation leaves out women’s work – it has a
gender bias – not backed by any logic – it is a line based on
patriarchal values
Implications of the demarcation line
• It gives cloak of invisibility to women’s work
• Productivity, working conditions, skills and
technology, social protection etc of unpaid work fall
outside the purview of policy making.
• Macroeconomics neglect this work and also the
workers.
• Policy makers worry about part of their work –visible
work – and discuss superficial issues without going to
the core.
Trends in the recent years
• Increase in labour intensive exports and unpaid
work.
• Improvement in labour market status (regular
employment) and unpaid work.
• Participation in MGNREGA and unpaid work.
• Neglect of unpaid work results in macro economic
losses.
Public policy and unpaid work
• Visibility and mainstreaming time use surveys
• Scattered, isolated and small scale
programmes have not made much impact.
• Unpaid work is viewed and treated in isolation
– mainly through welfare programmes
Unpaid work needs to be treated as a part of macro
economy
• Unpaid work is the lagging sector in the economy, as no
adequate policy attention is paid to the work and workers in
this sector.
• It is a sub-optional use of labour in the economy where the
division of work is based on gender and not on efficiency or
productivity.
• It is unjust to unpaid workers – violation of human rights of
women.
• Its exclusion from macroeconomics is not only a gender issue,
but a core macroeconomic issue.