Gender differences in time allocation to paid and unpaid work: evidence from urban households in Guatemala, 2000–2014

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the effects of individual and household characteristics on time allocation decisions for both women and men, and how these effects have evolved in Urban Guatemala using data from the National Survey of Living Conditions (2000 and 2014). We built a multivariate Tobit to model the decision of individuals to allocate time, distinguishing between three different types of time uses: housework, childcare and paid work. The results suggest that time allocation is strongly determined by gender. For both periods, on average, women devote more time to housework and childcare than men, while men spent more hours in paid work than their counterparts. However, men that report themselves as spouses tend to allocate significantly more hours to housework and childcare in 2014. Moreover, women's time allocation is more responsive to individuals and household characteristics than men in both periods. Finally, we find that educational attainment plays a central role in shaping how individuals allocate their time between market and non-market activities, especially for women. For instance, while housework time is negatively associated with education level, time devoted to childcare increases with instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Time use
• gender
• housework
• childcare
• paid work
• Guatemala

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Supplementary information accompanies this study which is available in doi: 10.17632/yb7rsfxdrk.1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ilya Espino

Ilya Espino is Doctor in Economics from Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. 2020, her research focuses on poverty and inequality, labor market, education, public policies and environment.

Ana Hermeto

Ana Hermeto is Associate Professor of the Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional (Cedeplar) at the UFMG, her research examines social economics and economics demography.

Luciana Luz

Luciana Luz is Associate Professor of the Cedeplar. Her main research interest is social demography, demography of education, and public policies.