(pp.239-245) S. M. Begum ‘Time allocation between paid and unpaid work of married women: A case study of Madurai in South India’, World Sustainable Development Outlook, 2008
S. MUMTAJ BEGUM, LADY DOAK COLLEGE, INDIA
DOI: 10.47556/B.OUTLOOK2008.6.24
Abstract: Given that more working hours devoted to family production implies less working hours available for market work, female time allocation for market work, family production and leisure certainly constrains female participation in paid employment. Therefore, female non-market production is a very important dimension of their relative economic position. Using field data, the paper examines the effect of socio-economic and demographic characteristics on the time allocation between paid and unpaid work of married women through maximum likelihood Tobit estimates of the labour supply function and multiple regression analysis for Madurai District, Tamil Nadu. Woman’s employment and the family composition (size of the family esp. presence of preschool age children and dependent adults) are decisive factors, sifting the division of paid and unpaid work in the households and in the whole of the society. Women spend less time on paid work but more time on housework when they are married and become mothers. Therefore being married means more housework for women and less market work or personal work/activities.
Keywords: Paid work, Unpaid work, Market and non-market activities, Work participation, Labour supply
