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World Developmenr, Vol. 20, No. 1I. pp. 1547-1560. 1992. 0305-750x/92 $5 .oo + 0.00Printed in Great Britain. Pergamon Press Ltd

Accounting for Womens Work: The Progress ofTwo Decades

LOURDES BENERiA:Cornell University, Ithaccr, New York

Summary. -This paper reviews the progress made toward a more accurate statistical recordingof womens economic activities. Beginning with an assessment of ihc main XC:\S in which theunderestimation of womens work has been prevalent, the articlc examines the conceptual,theoretical and methodological progress made during the past two decades. This progress hascontributed to the improvcmcnt of statistics regarding women in subsistence production and hasset the basis for the inclusion of domestic work in national accounts. Despite this progress, muchremains to be done at the practical lcvcl - in these two areas and in stati%;ticson the informalsector and volunteer activities - particularly at the national level.

I. INTRODUCTIONThe problem of underestimation of womenswork in labor force statistics and national income

accounts has been pointed out repeatedly sincethe 1970s (Boserup, 1970; Weinerman and Lat-tes, 1981; Beneria, 1982; Dixon-Mueller andAnker, 1988; Folbre and Able, 1989; UN, 1989).This underestimation has been observed particu-larly in four general areas of activity: (a) subsist-ence production; (b) informal paid work; (c)domestic production and related tasks; (d) volun-teer work. Even by accepted definitions of laborforce, there has been a tendency to underesti-mate female labor force participation rates in thefirst and second areas - as with the case ofunpaid family workers in agriculture or withparticipants in the informal labor market; themain problem in this case consisted in designingmore comprehensive and accurate methods ofdata collection although some conceptual issuesregarding the definition of subsistence produc-tion also had to be dealt with. In the case ofdomestic production and related tasks. the prob-lem has been more conceptual; in the conven-tional view, this type of production was notincluded in any national accounting statisticsbecause it was defined as falling outside of theeconomic realm unless performed as some formof remunerated activity. Similarly, in the case ofvolunteer work the problem has also been con-ceptual and definitional.

Boserup (1970) was one of the first authors topoint out the importance of womens subsistence

activities, particularly in rural areas in the pre-dominantly agricultural countries. and the under-estimation of such activities in the conventionalmethods of national income accounting. Theinfluence of the international womens move-ment since the 1970s. however, and the subse-quent work carried out in international organiza-tions and academic institutions, has been instru-mental in providing the impetus to analyze andemphasize all aspects of the invisibility ofwomens work, including domestic production.These efforts have paved the way for theconceptual, methodological and empirical workexamined in this paper, which represents pro-gress toward new and more accurate methods ofdata collection as well as a more sophisticatedconceptualization of the problem and its solu-tions. The purpose of the paper is to analyze themain aspects of these efforts and to evaluate itsaccomplishments as well as the work that remainsto be done.

The need to deal with the undercounting ofwomens work at all levels was given importantrecognition in the 1985 Nairobi Conference thatculminated the UN Decade for Women. as was

*Paper initial ly prepared for UNRISD, Meeting onSocial Development Indicators. Rahat. Morocco, AprilX-l I. 1991. I want to thank Paddy Quick. Gita Sen andan anonymous referee for their helpful comments on aprevious version of the paper. Many thanks also toRichard Anker and Joan Vanek for their help regard-ing IL0 and UN research on statistical information onwomen. Final revision accepted: April 29. 1992.

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reflected in its report Forwrrrd-looking Strutr~iesfor the Adv cmcernent of Wotnen. By stronglyrecommending appropriate efforts to measurethe contribution of womens paid and unpaidwork to all aspects and sectors of development,the report officially sanctioned the process bywhich the underestimation of womens economicactivities had been analyzed while the conceptualand practical obstacles to overcome the problemhad gradually weakened. Since then, strongsupport for a more systematic inclusion ofstatistics on womens work in national accountshas been expressed by other international organi-zations. many government officials, and non-governmental institutions (UN. 1989; UN Officeat Vienna, 19XY). The effort has been undertakenat the two levels which are most relevant, that is,labor force and production statistics.

2. ASSESSING THE PROBLEMLabor force statistics and national income

accounts were historically designed to gatherinformation about the level of economic activityand changes overtime, and to provide a basis foreconomic policy and planning. In capitalist eco-nomies, the market has always been viewed asthe core of economic activity. Similarly, partici-pation in the labor force and the inclusion ofproduction in national accounts have been de-fined in relation to their connection to the marketor to the performance of some work for pay orprofit (as defined by the International Confer-ence of Labor Force Statisticians in 1954). Thetypical story about the decrease in GNP when aman marries his housekeeper is well known byreaders of introductory economics textbookseven if. as a wife. her household activities mightnot have changed or might even have increased.The reason for this is the notion that unremuner-ated work was not to be included in nationalincome. and the person performing it not to becounted as a member of the labor force becausethey were not part of the market or paidexchanges of goods and services and thereforenot viewed a s economically significant. Thenotion, however. has been applied differently tovarious areas of economic activity:

(a) Suhsisterzce rodlrctiorlAn important exception to this rule was grad-

ually introduced, at least in theory. regardingthe inclusion of subsistence production. As earlyas 1947, Kuznets had warned about the need to

improve the then still quite young system ofnational income accounts to include subsistenceproduction; methods to estimate its value and theproportion of people engaged in it were recom-mended by the UN system of national incomeaccounts during the IYSOs particularly for coun-tries in which this sector had a relatively impor-tant weight in the economy. Thus, countries suchas Nepal. Papua New Guinea, Tanzania andothers developed methods of estimating subsist-ence production in varying degrees during thisperiod. By IYhO a working party of Africanstatisticians recommended that estimates of ruralhousehold activities would be useful and could beadded to those of subsistence production inagriculture, forestry and fishing (Waring. IYXX).

This effort was consolidated with the 1966definition of labor force recommended by theInternational Conference of Labor Statisticianswhich included all persons of either sa whofhrn isll the .mpp l_v of economic goods un d ser-\ ice.s (ILO. lY7h. emphasis mine). Whether thissupply was furnished through the market was notrelevant. This exception to the market criterionwas addressed particularly to the case of subsist-cnce production although what constituted eco-nomic goods and services was not entirely clear.The justification of this inclusion had to do withthe view that subsistence production was just astep short of being exchanged through the mar-ket: its exclusion from national accounts andlabor force statistics undervalued a countrysGNP and distorted economic information aboutits growth and living standards. As Boserup hadput it:

the prexnt system 01 under-reporting suh-sistence activities not only makes the undcr-developed countries seem poorer than they reallyare. in comparison to more developed countries.but it also makcs their rate of economic growthappear in a more favorable light than the lxtswarrant. (1970. p. 163)

For the purpose of recording womens ccono-mic activities. the lYh6 definition of labor forcedid not end the problem. Despite the conceptualand practical progress made to include subsist-ence production in national accounting, thestatistical information on women working in thissector was problematic for a variety of reasonshaving to do with methods of data collection,enumeration procedures as in cases of applica-tion of concepts such as family labor, and theperception of respondents - men and women -regarding womens work and their primary areaof concentration (Beneria. lYX2).National income accounts likewise, differed intheir definition of economic goods and services


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regarding unremunerated production. As Blades(1975) showed based on a survey of 70 countries,an effort to incorporate subsistence production inagriculture in GDP accounts was gradually madein most countries but the statistical estimation ofsubsistence activities was subject to a greatvariation by country. Once the market criteriadid not apply clearly, what was considered aneconomic activity became arbitrary, and differ-ences between countries developed regardingtheir inclusion in national accounts of activitiessuch as home gardening, water carrying and foodprocessing (Dixon-Mueller and Anker, 1988).

All of these factors resulted in a tendency toundercount the proportion of the population inthe labor force and the value of goods andservices included in national accounts. The prob-lem has affected women in particular, given theirhigh concentration in subsistence activities andtheir specific role in the domestic sphere-whichoften makes difficult the drawing of a clear linebetween domestic and subsistence activities.Over the years, this has resulted in significantstatistical disparities between countries - creat-ing difficulties for comparative analysis. Giventhe general acceptance of the need to includesubsistence production in laborforce and nation-al income statistics, the problem presently couldbe identified as one of defining with greaterclarity what are economic goods and services, atask that has been taken up by experts andappropriate organizations.

(b) The informal sectorA different type of problem is represented bythe lack of statistical information on workersengaged in the underground and informal sector

of the economy or any form of paid work notregistered statistically. In this case, the problemis not one of conceptualization given that we aredealing in principle with remunerated activities;the problem is one of lack of statistical informa-tion on the sector itself. The absence of appropri-ate and systematic data collection in this case canonly be overcome through an effort to recognizethe importance of this sector in many countriesand, in the case of women, the high participationof the female population in it. Projects to collectdata and many case studies for the sector havebeen undertaken, but they have been of an adhoc nature (SSPKJCECA, 1976; Portes et al.1989; Roberts, 1091); although very useful inproviding relevant data and sectoral analysis,they have also provided evidence reinforcing theneed for more systematic statistical information.

The difficulties of such a task, however. arenot to be underestimated; they derive from theunderground character of at least an importantproportion of this sector as well as from itsunstable, precarious and unregulated nature.which creates numerous obstacles for obtainingreliable data and elaborating sources of systema-tic data collection. Periodic and more systematiccountry surveys, however, could realistically beelaborated to provide estimates of this sectorsweight in labor force and GNP statistics. Alongthese lines. the UN has prepared general concep-tual and methodological guidelines for the mea-surement of womens work in the sector -referring to industry, trade and services - andcarried out useful pilot studies in Burkina Faso,Congo, the Gambia and Zambia (UN StatisticalOfficeiECAIINSTRAW. 199la and 1991b). Ineach case, microeconomic survey data have beencombined with macroeconomic data - depend-ing on data availability for each country.

(c) Domestic workIn the case of domestic production and related

activities, the problem was of a different nature;unlike subsistence production, this type of workwas not viewed as a substitute for market-oriented goods and services and not defined as aneconomic activity. Until recently there wastherefore no attempt to include it in nationalaccounts and labor force statistics because it wasseen as falling outside the production boundaryof these accounts. Even an author such as Bladeswho argued that *the production boundaryshould encompass non-monetary activities whichure likely to be replaced by monetary activities asun ecorlomy becomes more specialized, con-cluded that Because of the practical difficultiesof measurement the case for including house-wives general services is considerably weaker(Blades. 1975, p.54; emphasis mine).

The practice was not questioned until the late1970s. Boserup (1970). for example, arguedstrongly for the inclusion in national accounts offood items obtained by collecting and hunting, ofoutput of home crafts such as clothing, footwear,sleeping and sitting mats, baskets. clay pots,calabashes, fuel collected by women, funeralservices, hair cuts, entertainment, and traditionaladministrative and medical services togetherwith pounding, husking and grinding of food-stuffs and the slaughtering of animals (pp. 162-163). She saw these activities, however. mostly assubsistence production. not as domestic work;although she mentioned the omission of thedomestic services of housewives from national


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accounts, she was less vociferous about it than inthe case of subsistence production. Thus, sheemphasized the need to include production forown consumption, which she pointed out waslarger in the economically less-developed andagricultural countries than in the more industrial-ized countries. Yet, as labor has become moreexpensive in the high-income countries, self-helpactivities such as construction, carpentry, andrepairs have increased considerably; this is likelyto result in an increase in the number of hoursspent on unpaid household work. as was found ina survey carried out in France for 1975-85(Chadeau, 1989). This trend is reinforced inthese countries by the tendency toward a de-creasing use of paid domestic work (Langfeldt.1987).

Production therefore shifts out of the house-hold at some stages in the economic developmentprocess while at least part of it might return tothe domestic sphere at later stages - regardlessof who performs it. If household production isnot being accounted for, growth rates are likelyto be overestimated when this production shiftsto the market; on the contrary, they are likely tobe underestimated when it shifts from the marketto the household. Given the predominant divi-sion of labor and womens role in the household.the problem affects womens work in particular.Self-help work, however, such as constructionand repairs also involves men. In any case, theproblem of over, or underestimation would dis-appear if all domestic work and related activitieswere accounted for. This includes the need toaccount for tasks that are carried out simulta-neously - as when a housewife cleans the houseor goes shopping and takes care of children at thesame time.Since the late 1970s. the absence of statisticalinformation about domestic work has been underscrutiny in many circles and for a variety ofreasons. As will be examined below, progress hasproceeded at different levels, to an extent that,what seemed to be a farfetched and quiteunacceptable notion a decade earlier, has be-come a matter of serious and constructive work,with specific practical implications. even thoughmuch remains to be done.

A different area of undercounted work bywomen is that of volunteer work. The wide rangeof tasks pertaining to this category creates bothconceptual and methodologic~ll problems. Con-ceptually, it rcfcrs to work whose beneficiariesmust not be mcmbcrs of the immediate family. In

addition. there cannot be any direct payment,and the work must be part of an organizedprogram. That is. volunteer work is differentfrom domestic work even though there might besome close connections between the two - suchas in the case of voluntary work performed inones neighborhood - which might make theboundaries difficult to draw. In addition, whilesome voluntary tasks might easily be viewed asproduction, such as that of free job training andvoluntary home-building organizations, othersare more difficult to classify. such as some ofthose associated with charitable work. Yet evenin the latter case. some accounting of these tasksseems important, particularly if the tasks are freesubstitutes for what otherwise would be remuner-ated market work. Gender asymmetries withregard to volunteer work are abundant. Asargued by women in New Zealand when theymobilized around this issue in 19X4. while (most-ly male) monetary contributions to charity aretax-deductible. time contributions (mostlyfemale) are not. The result of this mobilizationwas the inclusion of a question about timededicated to volunteer work in the 1986 Censusof Population (Waring. 1988).

Much remains to be done to account forwomens volunteer work, particularly given thatin many areas it has been increasing significantly.Such is the case with survival activities among thepoor resulting from the drastic deterioration ofliving standards in countries with structuraladjustment packages. In fact. the definition ofvolunteer work in cases such as the participationin collective kitchens raises questions about theabove (conventional) definition of volunteerwork since the beneficiaries often include bothimmediate family members and neighbourhoodmembers. It also raises questions about theextent to which this work results from choice orin fact from the lack of it - the urgent needs ofsurvival. In any case. cooking for a large numberof people as many as five times a week andincluding nonfamily members can hardly beconceptualized a s conventional volunteer work.Collective kitchens can also be found in othercountries including high-income countries such asthe United States where soup kitchens arecurrently serving the homeless and others amongthe poor: mostly organized and run by women.they raise similar issues and underline the im-portance of pursuing,conceptual. methodologicaland statistical work m order to best capture thenature and importance of volunteer work.

Numerous reasons have repeatedly beenpointed out for dedicating effort and resources torecording unremunerated production and impro-ving the accul-acy of statistical information in the


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areas of paid work or other types of activitieswith statistical deficiencies. These reasons rangefrom the need to base national and internationalpolicies and planning on the most accurateassessment of reality, to recognizing the contri-bution of women to all aspects of developmentand therefore ending their invisibility, to con-structing more comprehensive indices of welfare.A variety of studies carried out in many countriesover the years indicate that the value of unre-corded activities. a high proportion of which areperformed by women, might range betweenone-third to one-half of measured GNP(Goldschmidt-Clermont, IO83 and 198)). Diffcr-ent UN documents have repeatedly pointed outthat statistics on womens contribution to theeconomy can be useful for human resourcesplanning and estimations of potential output,agricultural policies, measures to be taken withregards to the informal sector, and the differentadjustment and stabilization policies designed attime of economic crisis. Likewise, they can beuseful for the study of savings and consumptionpatterns of men and women, the analysis ofhousehold dynamics, regional and comparativestudies of mens and womens participation inproduction, and studies of time use by gender(United Nations Office at Vienna, IYXY). Moreaccurate data can be very useful to designappropriate policies regarding employment, in-come distribution, social security provisions, payequity. and others. As Goldschmidt-Clermont(198)) has pointed out:

Data covering both the recorded and hcrctoforeunrecorded sectors of the economy arc needed onwhich to base economic policies. employmentpolicies. income distribution policies. equitabledistribution of the workload between genders.equitable social security provisions for unpaidworkers, etc. They arc also needed to provide abetter basis for the financial settlement of divorcecaxa and of wrongful death casts in civil courts(p. 2).

Similarly, new systematic information aboutdomestic production and related subsistenceactivities would shed light on estimation ofwelfare levels and on the current discussionabout the intensification of womens work result-ing from the structural adjustment policies imple-mented in many countries during the past decade(Elson, 1001; Floro, 1902: Beneria. lYY2). Usingthese arguments, the case for the inclusion of alleconomic activities in national accounts andlabor force statistics has been made, particularlyover the last IS years. Conceptually at least. thebattle against the invisibility of womens workseems to have largely been won, at least amongthose working on these issues; the remaining

difficulties at this point appear to be mostly of apractical nature even though, here too. someprogress has clearly been made. This subject isconsidered in the next section.

3. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF A DECADEProgress on these practical issues has been

made with regard to both labor force andproduction statistics and it has proceeded mainlyon three fronts: conceptual, theoretical andmethodological. On the conceptual front, asignificant step was taken in 1982 with the newdefinition of the economically active populationrecommended by the 13th International Confer-ence on Labor Statisticians, which clarified the1966 definition by specifying the meaning ofeconomic goods and services as defined by theUnited Nations system of national accounts andbalances (Dixon-Mueller and Anker, 10X8),that is. by including subsistence production innational accounts. This brought closer togetherthe definition of economic activity with theearlier efforts in many countries to include atleast some subsistence production in theseaccounts (although, as pointed out earlier. al-ways excluding domestic work). The remainingeffort was to specify in greater detail what taskswere to be included in subsistence production inorder to clarify and standardize the meaning ofeconomic goods and services. As Dixon-Muellerand Anker have pointed out, many countries donot consider as economic such activities asgathering wild foods. fuel or water, processingcrops. raising a few chickens or keeping a kitchengarden (lY88. p. 30).

Because they rightly think that one singledefinition is not likely to be adequate for allpurposes, Dixon-Mueller and Anker suggest asystem of multiple definitions for multiple uses soas to construct accurate and comparable laborforce data that are useful for specific purposes(p. 32). One of their proposed definitions. that ofthe total labor force, goes beyond the category ofsubsistence activities as had traditionally beendefined in the national income accounts because,in addition to the production of market orientedgoods and services as well as subsistence produc-tion, it would include domestic work and relatedactivities.

This suggestion represents a significant stepforward in the effort to record womens contribu-tion to the economy. It is not an isolated stepsince it is part of the work carried out in recentyears in different branches of the United Nationssystem and of the debate on these issues amongresearchers. academicians and the wider


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womens community. Thus, as a result of theNairobi recommendation, the International Re-search and Training Institute for the Advance-ment of Women (INSTRAW) and the StatisticalOffice of the UN Secretariat have taken the leadto review and promote the revision of nationalaccounts and other statistical information onwomens work. For this purpose, several inter-national meetings have been held since lY86whose results range from the revision of theinternational Standard Classification of Occupa-tions to a new definition of production asreferring to **the creation of goods and serviceswhich are exchanged on the market, are capableof being marketed or are produced with factorsof production bought in the market. Again. thisdefinition is comprehensive enough that it canencompass practically all economic activities thathad not been accounted for in the past, althoughit is interesting to note that it is still centeredaround the notion of the market instead of, forexample, being related to each activitys contri-bution to welfare. Yet. welfare criteria arc likelyto become more prevalent if economic changeand economic activities are evaluated throughtheir contribution to social development ratherthan through strictly economistic indicators.

In this sense. the inclusion of domestic work innational accounts raises special problems.Although a significant consensus has been builtduring the past decade on this inclusion. thepredominance of market-rclatcd rather thanwelfare-related criteria tends to place domesticproduction in ;I special category of work. Forexample. authors who have noted that house-hold production definitely consists of productiveactivities relevant to welfare have also arguedthat including them into national accounts isneither meaningful nor desirable - taking intoaccount the traditional uses of the results ofnational accounts - or even continuously prac-ticable because of the statistical problems in-volved (Liitzel, 1YXY). Therefore. most recon-mendations, including thoac of the Expert Groupon Measurement of Womens IIK~II~~ and theirParticipation and Production in the InformalSector which met in Santa Domingo in OctoberIY8h. have optcd for the development of separateor supplcmcntary accounts that wlould permit thegeneration of augmented estimates of grossdomestic product (UN Office at Vienna. IYXY).The purpose of such satellite accounts wouldbe to record the economic processes of unpaidproduction of goods md services in households.There has not been, however. unanimity ofopinion regarding the inclusion of services andvolunteer work; while the IYX6 Expert Grouprecommended including the production of goods

but not of services in the supplementaryaccounts, others have argued that services shouldalso be included under two categories: (a) thoseperformed for the community ~ such as volun-teer work in hospitals and schools. and takingcare of children, old and sick persons: (b) thosefor the benefit of the household in which they arecarried out.

Given the numerous tasks being performed inthe home, the question of which tasks are to beincluded or excluded has been an important focusof discussion. The most accepted operationalcriterion is that of the third person principlewhich. as pointed out by Liitzel (lY8Y). wasdefined for the first time by Margaret Reid in1934. According to this principle. domestic pro-duction should refer to unpaid activities whichcan also be performed by 21 third person in aremunerated form. While tasks such as shopping.cleaning. food preparation and driving the chil-dren to school would be included under thiscriterion. watching television and getting dressedwould not. Although this criterion might stillleave some ambiguities (the very rich might have;I maid to help them pet dressed), as a whole itrepresents an important step in setting a standardof definition that would allow. for example,comparative analysis between countries. Theprinciple also makes clear that market-relatedcritcrin are also applicable to the accounting ofdomestic work. In any case, these changes implythat ;I shift has taken place in the conceptualiza-tion of economic activity toward the inclusion oftasks not t l i r c c f l ~ onnected with the market.

On the theoretical side. significant progresspreceded an d has been parallel to the recentconceptual and methodological work, particu-larly with the analysis of domestic production.Economic analysis has penetrated the area of thehousehold from different perspectives and withdifferent objectives. Thus. the neoclassical literature has analyzed household economics as :Ii i ic; i i is of understanding domestic production,the sexual division of labor in an d outside of thehome. and decisions regarding the participationof different household members in the paid laborforce (Becker. IYYl): feminist versions of thisanalvsis have pointed out some of its short-comings and have placed greater emphasis onthe social construction of gender discrimination(Blau and Ferber, 1085). A different body ofliterature with a Marxian perspective has empha-sized the importance of household production forthe daily maintenance and reproduction of thelabor force and its contribution to the overallfunctioning of the economic system. Thus, thedomestic labor debate of the lY7Os analyzed thenature of domestic work. its links with the


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market, and the economic, social and powerrelations established between the wage earnerand the domestic worker (Gardiner. 1985; Moly-neux, 1979). Likewise, issues related to thenotion of exploitation within the household wereraised (Folbre. 1982). In all cases, the penetra-tion of analysis into the household has enhancedour understanding of the economic significanceof domestic work and the need to developmethods to evaluate its contribution to produc-tion and welfare.

A different theoretical discussion has centeredaround one of the obstacles often pointed out toestimate the value of household production,namely, the difficulty of comparing it with that ofmarket production: can this comparison be madegiven that the two take place under very differentconditions? Can their separate measurements beadded up? In particular, domestic work is notsubject to the law of the market and the normalcompetitive pressures to which market-orientedproduction is subject to do not apply. There aretwo reasons for this. One is that, at least in someeconomies, no equivalent to some of the goodsand services produced in the household may existin the market; such would be the case with thecare of children or of the sick in societies withoutpaid day care or hospitals. This problem, how-ever, tends to disappear as economies shift awayfrom subsistence production and as householdactivities are transferred to the market sphere.

The second reason is that no standard ofproductivity exists for domestic production;domestic workers might presumably work atdifferent levels of efficiency and therefore eithertake different time to produce the same output orproduce a different quality of output with thesame time. As we will see below, this createsdifficulties for imputing value either to labor timeused in domestic activities or to the output that itgenerates. Some authors, however. have arguedthat, in an indirect form at least. housework issubject to the competitive pressures of themarket. Folbre (1982). for example. has pointedout that if the primary goal of households was tosurvive and subsist, there would be a processwhich would eliminate inefficient households(p. 321) - thereby implying that the level ofefficiency of domestic workers might be com-parable. as in the case of market production.Indeed, it makes sense to argue that the ability ofwage workers to carry out their assigned tasks inthe workplace is in part determined by the way inwhich domestic production is carried out. In thissense. we can argue that there are strong marketmechanisms enforcing efficiency and penalizinginefficiency in the domestic sphere,

The relevancy of this theoretical discussion for

practical work should be obvious. As economicanalysis has entered the sphere of the household,the economic value of domestic work has beenclarified while its invisibility has become moredifficult to maintain. particularly under thestrong pressure generated by the UN Decade forWomen and subsequent work along these lines.Interestingly enough, a good proportion of theprogress made on conceptual and methodologicalissues regarding domestic work can also beapplied to the case of volunteer work, given thesimilarities between both types of activities withregard to their unpaid nature and their role in theproduction of goods and services.

On the methodological side, substantial pro-gress has been made on two fronts. One is thecountry level revisions to capture womens laborforce participation with greater accuracy. Thisincludes specific sectors, as with the UN-sponsored pilot studies of the informal sectormentioned above, as well as the more generalestimations of economically active women. Toillustrate, the 1984 Dominican Rural WomenStudy based on a survey of over 2.100 householdsresulted in an estimated labor force participationrate of rural women of X4%, while the censusfigure for 1981 was 2 I%. This resulted from abroad definition of womens subsistence produc-tion which included activities such as gardencultivation. animal care and cooking for fieldhands (Pou. lYX7). Likewise. the DominicanRepublic included a separate module dealingwith household-related activities in its mostrecent National Labor Force Survey (still notpublished) which will produce a more systematicdata source on womens work. In Argentina andParaguay. a special survey collected for almost10.000 people confirmed the conclusion that,although population censuses are quite accuratewith respect to the male population, this is notthe case for the female labor force. particularly inthe rural areas (Wainerman, 19Y2). A result ofthis study has been the introduction of a ques-tionnaire by the National Institute of Statisticsand Censuses in Argentina aimed at improvingthe measurement of womens economic activi-ties.

Another important experiment has been car-ried out for the 1YY census in India to avoid theunderestimation of womens activities in the lYX1census. To this end. census takers were directedto ask more probing questions about womenseconomic role in the household and to treat aseconomic activity any service or work which isproductive. even if it does not have a monetaryvalue, . Although not all the questions initiallysuggested were incorporated in the question-naire. what remained has been viewed as a


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positive step to improve the visibility of women hand. will tend to give the widest range ofas workers. estimates, depending on the skills and the oppor-The second front of methodological progress tunity wage of the individual performing it. Thishas dealt with the complex task of designing can result in rather absurd estimates since, fordifferent methods to estimate the value of example, a meal produced by a doctor will behousehold production. Time budgets studies and imputed a higher value than an identical mealdata collection from household surveys carried prepared by an unskilled worker even though theout in many countries have, on the other hand, latter might be a better cook. Another problemprovided the empirical base for such a task. often in this case has been pointed out repeatedlywith large sample sizes. In addition. empirical namely, the tautology suggested by the fact that,studies have been useful to scrutinize the actual if the cook is a full-time housewife, her opportun-content and complexities of the economics of the ity costs (which depend on the income she wouldhousehold. As a result, two main approaches to make as a member of the paid labor force). are inthe estimation of the value of domestic work turn influenced by her condition as a full-timehave been introduced: one based on the imputa- housewife. As Ferber and Birnbaum (1980) havetion of value to labor time spent on housework pointed out, a person who has been out of(i.e.. an input-related method) and another the labor market. especially when it has been abased on the imputation of market prices to long time, will not have reliable information ongoods and services produced in the domestic how much she/he could earn, or even whethersphere (i.e.. an output-related method). she/he could find a job. Their analysis suggestsFor each approach, different estimation that this case at best provides only a lower limitmethods have been used. For the input-related of the value of housework, fails to take intoestimations. the problem is to decide which value consideration the value of housework of theto impute to labor time. At least three methods market worker, and includes the value ofhave been used: the homemakers additional leisure (p. 39 1).

(a) the global substitute method uses the As for output-related estimations, they requirecost of a hired domestic worker, paid to carry some method of evaluating domestic production.out the different tasks associated with the such as the estimation of its value at markethousehold. prices while deducting the cost of inputs from it.(b) The specialized substitute method uses The problem again is to decide which marketthe costs of a specialized worker that would goods and services are equivalent to those pro-perform each specific task according to her/his duced in the household, and what price to imputespecialization. to inputs such as labor and raw materials(c)The opportunity cost method is based on produced at the household level - such as woodthe wage which the person carrying out the collected by family members. home grown vegct-domestic work would receive if she/he worked ables and home made utensils. At the empiricalin the market. Icvel. it is a tedious method requiring data onEach method has some advantages and dis- time budgets, hourly wages, and a relatively highadvantages associated with it. The global substi- number of commodity prices and other variables.

tute method will tend to give a very low estimate Measurements, for example. need to rely on agiven that domestic workers are at the lower end breakdown of activities such (Goldschmidt-of the wage hierarchy. In addition. a domestic Clermont, IYXY, p. 7):worker is likely not to do all the work of a ~ meal preparation: frequency and content ofhousehold: unless a method to add the full various types of meals prepared at home,contribution of all household members is de- ~ food preservation, with the correspondingsigned. this approach will further reinforce the amount of fruit, vegetables. fish. etc. pre-tendency toward a low estimate. On the con- served,trary, using the costs of a specialized substitute - care of dependent household members,will tend to generate estimates that will be with the corresponding number of children ofrelatively high even though more indicative of various ages cared for (part-time or full-time),the market value of household production. One elderly and other persons cared for. and kindpractical problem associated with this method is of care given,the need to disaggregate each domestic task and ~ upkeep of dwelling and of its surroundings,to impute the wage of a specialist performing it. with the corresponding data on frequency ofwith the corresponding difficulties of comparing repalrs, surface and type of upkeep,domestic and market productivity mentioned - care of clothing, with frequency andabove. amount included,

The opportunity costs method, on the other ~ manufacturing for household consumption:

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WOMENS WORK ISSS

amount of clothes made at home, type andquality, etc.

While at present a small proportion of such datacan be obtained from existing census and nation-al household surveys, most have to be gener-ated through surveys. Yet this is precisely thetype of information that a systematic elaborationof accounts could provide periodically. Howoften these accounts should be elaborated willdepend on the availability of resources andprojected needs. Liitzel (IYXY). for example, hassuggested that they could be presented every fewyears instead of annually. Although this wouldrepresent a step forward, annual estimates wouldclearly be preferable since they would providesystematic information difficult to capture byintermittent accounts - such as the effect ofcyclical fluctuations on domestic work and theimpact of structural adjustment packages o nwomen, including the intensification of theirwork.

Another difficulty in obtaining the gross valueadded in output-related estimations stems fromthe need to add the depreciation of consumerdurables. There is, however, no reason to belicvcthat this is impossible since similar problems havebeen dealt with in designing methods to accountfor capital depreciation in industrial production.An easier task is the avoidance of doublecounting regarding production already taken intoconsideration in national accounts - as with thecase of self-construction of dwellings and agricul-tural subsistence production.Input vs. output-related accounting methodsraise other issues with respect to their respectiveusefulness. For example, if women have to walklonger to fetch water, input-related accountingwill show an increase in time input while there isno increase in output. This would suggest that, interms of welfare, an output-related methodwould be superior since it is not possible tosuggest that there has been an increase inwelfare. Yet, from the perspective of accountingfor womens work. it is important to point outprecisely that the effort required to fetch thesame amount of water has been intensified, e v e nif output has not, in which case an input-relatedmethod can be thought to be superior.

These difficulties. although real. are not insur-mountable. The progress made so far and theguidelines provided by international organiza-tions have laid an important foundation fromwhich to proceed. As pointed out byGoldschmidt-Clermont (1989, p. 9). The majorresponsibility for progressing in the valuation ofdomestic activities appears at present to lie withindividual countries. Although further progressmay not be an easy task, particularly in countries

with deeply ingrained male biases regarding therole of women in society, the political will in eachcountry can now be reinforced by internationalhelp and the possibility of referring to inter-national guidelines. A similar effort is needednow regarding voluntary work. At the practicallevel, resources will be necessary to set upperiodical sources of data gathering and elabora-tion of statistical information. We turn to thissubject in the following section.

4. STATISTICAL INFORMATION:OBJECTIVES AND PROBLEMS

For each of the four areas outlined above, newsets of data need to be generated at the nationaland international level. In some cases, they canbe built on existing mechanisms and institutionsand they may represent a minimal effort - suchas with the addition of questions to existingcensus surveys. The practical difficulties. how-ever, of adequately dealing with the problemshould not bc underestimated. As pointed out bya recent UN report (19X9), the causes of resist-ance to such an effort arc of a different natureand include: (a) lack of awareness of the prob-lems at hand and of their possible solutions: (b)belief in the adequacy of the current system andresistance to change: (c) technical problemsrelated to conceptual and methodological ques-tions, including the difficulties of generatingaccurate and systematic data on a large scale; (d)cost considerations, a problem that has the mostimpact on low-income countries.

At each country level. a starting point is thecareful analysis of the different censuses andsurveys taken regularly to deal with existingbiases and evaluate the extent to which they c;111incorporate additional questions and informationregarding women. These include population cen-suses and business statistics as well as labor forceand household surveys. For example. the malebiases in existing population censuses, such a s thereliance on information given by the head of thehousehold. often assumed to be ; I man, haveoften led to inaccurate information aboutwomens work (Standing, 1983; Dixon-Muellerand Anker. lYt(8). Likewise, inadequate dcfini-tions of variables in labor force surveys have ledto the typical underestimation of womens activi-ties emphasized in this paper. Household sur-veys, on the other hand, have generated theirown problems. An example is the way in whichquestions about the allocation of resourcesamong household members have often beenposed. To illustrate with an example from a UNreport, given the documented higher level of


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conspicuous consumption among men thanamong women in many households, it may bejust as important to know what proportion ofthe households income is spent on alcoholconsumed by males and their friends as to havean attitudinal response to a question on controlof the household income (United Nations, 1989.p. 9). That is, focusing on a question about malealcohol consumption may point out more directlyto existing problems and suggest correspondingpolicies than a question on who controls house-hold income.To solve these problems, work needs to pro-ceed on four fronts:

The first is the definitional issue implying arevision of the concepts used throughout theprocess of data collection and statistical classifi-cation. The task begins with international stan-dard definitions and classifications, and filtersdown to country and regional levels. It includesalso the clear definition of keywords used incensuses and surveys and which might be inter-preted very differently by different respondents(Dixon-Mueller and Anker. 198X). Such is thecase with words such as marriage. family,household. work, job, domestic work.family worker, employment, -primary occu-pation or main activity. Similarly, this wouldinclude a clear definition of tasks so as to identifywhen two (or more) are being performed at thesame time or when a respondent is simultaneous-ly engaged in multiple activities. The new recom-mendations made by the IL0 and the UNregarding the IYYOs censuses were addressingdefinitional problems, some of which havealready had some impact (Wainerman, lYY2).The importance of clarifying concepts and defini-tions needs to be emphasized as a basis tostandardize data so as to facilitate regional andcross-country comparisons. Finally, householdsurveys are hkely to benefit from asking the samequestions to different family members in order totest for accuracy of answers.

Second are technical and methodologicalissues or questions about how to. whichinfluence the outcome of data collection. An IL0project on the improvement of data collectionand measurement methods, for example, showedthat the accuracy of information on labor forcedata on women can be influenced by the type ofquestionnaire used, the sex and age of theinterviewer. and the extent to which respondentsare proxies for others (Anker. lYX3). Question-naire design and how questions are asked canalso be relevant and adjustable to each specificsituation - such as with questions related toshorter or longer work time periods or withadjusting the questions to cyclical variations.

Wainerman. for example, points out the import-ance of conveying the meaning of work to theinterviewees and stressing that production forown consumption is an economic activity. Tech-nical and methodological questions also appearat the moment of coding, editing, measuring andinterpreting data. It might be important, forexample, to test and interpret figures that show arelatively high proportion of women underdont know or no answer categories in orderto avoid biases and misunderstandings. In suchcases, more information may be needed.

Third are cultural issues to avoid the imposi-tion of a countrys standards and practices overothers. The above-mentioned UN report (1989).for example, has rightly warned about theincorporation of Western biases in question-naires dealing with other cultures. The assump-tion of nuclear households as the universal normis a typical example that does not even hold for atleast some Western countries at the present time.particularly among some ethnic groups (Hart-mann, 19X7; Baca-Zinn. 1987). Differences alongthese lines may also result in definitional issues,as with the need to determine whether polyga-mous families are to be classified as single orseparate households. A recommendation empha-sizing that these cultural decisions should bemade by local professionals seems highlyappropriate for such cases while, in addition.bearing in mind that even within very traditionalcultures not everyone obeys the rules and alsothat the interpretation of the obligations imposedby the rules may vary greatly from class to class(United Nations, IY89, p. 19).Fourth are practical issues or dealing withimplementation, such as the need for trainingand supervision of interviewers and census work-ers, advertising censuses and surveys to obtainoptimal participation, avoiding sexist languageand attitudes, and preparation of census workersmanuals. In each case. sensitivity to genderbiases. as they have appeared in the past, needsto be emphasized as a high priority in order toavoid past problems in the future. In the sameway, sensitivity to class biases is likely to beimportant and specific to each country. The IYYcensus in India offers an interesting example ofthe different levels at which efforts can be madeto produce gender sensitive data. Thus, a seriesof seminars and dialogues were held to discussthese issues, and actions were taken to make thecensus more responsive to gender. These inclu-ded: (a) the preparation of a list of probingquestions; (b) the commissioning of a poster onwomen and productive work to hc used astraining material by census takers; (c) the pro-duction of a short YO-second film portraying the


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various roles of women as workers, both in ruraland urban settings. This collective effort andcollaboration of international organizations rep-resent a pioneer example of the cultural workthat can be done toward a more accurateaccounting of womens work.

Most of these questions apply to the four areasof underestimation of womens work; they havebeen discussed and answers to them made avail-able in the literature dealing with the accuratemeasurement and recording of womens activitiesfor over a decade. Although new problems arelikely to emerge as the practical effort of imple-mentation proceeds, the groundwork has beencarried out in which the basic work to becontinued at each country level can find usefulguidelines in the existing literature.

5. THE USE OF STATISTICALINFORMATION ON WOMENS WORK:NEW STUDIES

For those of us who had been concerned aboutdeficiencies regarding statistical information onwomens work, the Nairobi recommendationcalling for appropriate efforts on the part of theUN to deal with this issue raised an unexpectedquestion: what if womens economic activities ingeneral and domestic work in particular werefinally and adequately reported by all countries?Would it make a difference? For what purposescan the new information be used? What effectsshould we expect from such an effort?

The many uses of statistical information onwomens work for policy and planning at manylevels have been pointed out above. A differentissue is the compilation of data that can be usedto generate social indicators on the condition ofwomen (UN Statistical Commission, 1983; UNI9X4a and 1984b; UN, IYY ). Some of them havegradually been incorporated in reports and statis-tical series. such as the women and develop-ment indicators ~ female/male populationratios, life expectancy, maternal mortality, infantmortality and educational data - now includedin the World Banks annual World DweloprnrrztReport. In addition, since the late 1970s. a varietyof studies have appeared which show the use-fulness of more accurate information for analyti-cal purposes. Some of these studies have been ofan historical nature, providing a reexaminationof old data and a new vision of the extent towhich womens economic roles had been pre-viously underestimated and often distorted(Conk, 1981; Ciancanelli. 1983; Folbre and Abel,19%): Garcia Ramon et ul., 1991). Through newanalysis of previously ignored data and historical

documents, they have redressed the empiricalrecord and pointed out the androcentric con-cepts and patriarchal norms that permeated thecategorization of labor in country censuses andstatistical series. In the case of the United States,for example, it has been shown that womensincome-generating activities were significantlyunderreported in census figures, mostly by defin-ing participation in the market economy as theonly form of productive labor (Folbre and Abel,1989. p. 547). As a result, even activities thatwere important sources of household income,such as lodging, particularly in the cities, wereignored and those engaged in them not classifiedas gainfully employed. A systematic underesti-mation of their income-generating activities fol-lowed from their undercounted number in thelabor force, a bias that the new studies havebegun to redress.

Similar conclusions, mostly related to recentdata, have been drawn consistently from studiescarried out in Third World countries. As in thecase of the more industrialized countries, under-estimation of womens work has been found bothfor paid and unpaid activities. While the informalsector typifies the underestimation of paid activi-ties, undercounting in the agricultural sector isoften due to the lack of reporting of familyworkers who are engaged both in subsistenceand market-oriented agriculture (Beneria. 1982).In their analysis of Latin American censusesduring the 1970s. Wainerman and Lattes (lY81)showed that, in countries where household sur-veys had taken place. labor force participationrates derived from survey data were consistentlyhigher than those reported through census fig-ures. Country surveys have reached similarconclusions for Latin America (Deere, 1982) andother regions (Dixon-Mueller and Anker. 198X).

The disparities between the official and revisedfigures have often been found to be large. as inthe case of Wainermans survey mentionedearlier. In Deeres study of the Andean region.the proportion of women participating in agricul-tural production was found to be around 21%while the official figure was 3%. In the Domini-can Republic, a redefinition of activity rates for1085 that included production for own consump-tion resulted in similar activity rates for men andwomen, while the rates for men were twice ashigh (depending on age) for official rates. Impor-tant disparities have also been reported forIslamic countries, India and others (Beneria,1982; Dixon-Mueller and Anker. 1988).The last decade has also generated a renewedinterest in estimations of the relative weight ofdomestic work either in GNP figures or in thehousehold economy. with some elaborate studies


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IS.58 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

ca rried out in the higher incom c c ountries add ingto previous evide nce . In Germany. for exam ple.different estimates show a range that wou ldincrea se the official valu e of GNP of 3~50%(Langfe ldt. IYX7). In Franc e, a n INSEE studybased on a large time bud get survey for lY74-75and IYXS~X(1 showed that. first. the total numb erof hours spent on unpaid housework exc eed ed , atan increasingly rate. the total numb er of hoursworked in the market: it represented 56% oftotal wo rk in 1975 and 61% in 1YXS. Sec ond, thestudy found that wom en still did ap proximatelytwice a s muc h housework as men but with ade c reasing trend: from 72% in lY7S to 66% inIYX5. while m ens share increased ac co rdingly.Third. the study showe d tha t full-time house-wives spend mo re time on housework thanwomen engag ed in the labor force. but thenumbe r of hours worked in the home de crea sedby 0% during lY7.55X.5 (Cha de au. IYXY). Like-wise. international co mpa risons am ong Wcstcrnindustrialized co untries have be en ca rried out -showing. for exam ple. that estimates of the valueof dom estic work for different yea rs rangebe tween a low of 24% and ;I high of 44%(Chadeau. IYXS).

An interesting ca se study of the relative weightof dom estic work in household ec onom ies hasbe en ca rried out for the area of Barcelo na. Spa in(Carrasco er al., lYY2). Based on a househo ldsurvey, the study estimates for three inco meca tegories of households: (a) the value of domes-tic work, (b) the value of soc ial service s per-ce ived (social wage ), and (c) total household

ea rnings. The results show that, altho ugh theab solute value of dom estic work is higher forhouseholds within the midd le-inco me ca tegory(followed by the lower-income ca tegory), itsrelative weight within the total of (a) (b) and (c)is greatest am ong the lower inc ome households(SO.Y%), followe d by the mid dle inc om e (40.9%)and highe r incom e (20.5%) group s. The study,therefore. clea rly indica tes that the weight ofdom estic work within the household ec onom yc orrelates with soc ial c lass, with the lowe rincome households depe nding more heavily onthe unpaid goods and services produced at homeand the higher inco me families using the marketto provide them.

These studies ha ve cle ar imp lica tions for po licyand pla nning and show the usefulness of statisti-c al informat>on on wome ns work. They cannotyet. howev er. draw from more co mp rehensiveand stand ardized statistics at the natio nal andinternational level, therefore presenting a pow er-ful argume nt for implem enting such a projec t.This should be so pa rticularly 215 he object ive ofnational income ac co unts and labor force statis-tics shifts awa y from the goa l of mea suring goo dsand services excha nged through the markettoward providing more sophistica ted indica torsof soc ial welfare and human dev elop ment. For allco untries, the need to pursue further the task ofdeve loping more systema tic statistics on the fourarcas analyzed in this pap er which most affec t theinvisibility of wom ens w ork represents ;I funda-mental aspec t of this projec t.

NOTESI. For example. the colkcti~c kitchens that devel- 2. According to Walnerman, the ccnsus procedure

opctl in Bolivia and Peru during the I9)XOa have been undernumcrated as many as five-sixths of the ruralessential for the s1rvivill of many communities and lemalc worker\ and close to one-half 01 their urbanhave heen lunctioninp with the ;~lmost cxcIu\i\.c partic!- counterparts in Paraguay. The corresponding ligurespatIon of women. In the case of Lima. Peru, the for Argcntinian lcmalc~ arc: two-thirds in the rural areaestlmatcd numhcr ol hitchcm grew from hO0 in IVXS 10 and one fifth in the urban one (Waincrman, 1992. p.I .5SOn I9XX and perhaps as many as 2.200 in I9Y?. 45).while the c\timated number 01 women involved rnrunning them crew from I00.000 in 1985 to 750,000 in1901. M;mv olthe kitchens lunction with II number 01 3. The lilm. which \,a ahot hy II well-knownvoIuntccrh~that tends to rnngc hctwecn 30 and SO camcram;tn and introduced by one 0I Indias he\tmember\, while a collective 01 30 might preparc mcal~ known singers. was lundcd lq UNIFEM In collahora-lor its many ah Xl or more pcoplc i t day and as many as tion with UNFPA.IIVC timca ;I week (Harrlg. 1007). lhesc arc. howcvcr.rough estimates which call Lor more dctailcd analysisand \ystcm;itic data collcctium

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Documents

WD 291 FemEmp BENERIA