Desta, C.G. (2019) “Resources, Time and gender: Determinants of women’s housework in Bahir Dar and nearby rural villages, Northwest Ethiopia,” Journal of Family Issues, 41(4), pp. 507–541.
Desta examined the factors that affect the time Ethiopian women spend on housework in the context of existing theories, including time availability, bargaining, gender ideology as well as other demographic and socioeconomic factors. The influencing factors were investigated from a household survey of 502 women using a cross-sectional quantitative data set. Sample households were randomly chosen from each kebele and village, and from two rural villages and four urban kebeles where data was gathered in-person using a questionnaire.
They found that there was a positive correlation between the number of young children, the amount of time other family members spent doing non-housework, and the value of the household’s assets. The results indicated that most households, particularly those headed by women farmers, had very little or no income. Desta anticipates that women’s participation in, and time spent on housework will decline as women receive higher education.
In less developed, traditional societies like Ethiopia, a woman’s time spent on housework is significantly influenced not only by the work contribution of her own children but also by the contribution of other family members living within the family. Desta added the housework hours of men, adult children, and others in the household together. 86.7% (435) women performed more housework compared to men. Of these, more than two-thirds of the women (68.3%) held a traditional gender ideology and consequently spent more time on housework.
Desta pointed out that household tasks are typically divided into two categories: routine tasks, which are continuous and take a lot of time, and non-routine tasks, which are infrequent, flexible, and can be delayed. Examples of male tasks include household repairs, car maintenance, yard work, and other similar activities. Whether it is defined in terms of routine or non-routine activities, housework remains highly gendered, with women carrying the majority of it. Another finding is that having young children affects how much time women spend doing housework. This association between the number of young children and the number of hours spent doing housework is consistent with previous research.
In conclusion, national strategies aiming to reduce poverty may need to pay more attention to educating women, assisting them in overcoming working capital shortages, providing low-income households access to credit services and improving employment opportunities since these may increase the resources available to women, give them more power, and minimise gendered housework.