- Unpaid care and Domestic work in Ethiopia
Unpaid care work is defined as direct care of people and domestic work for family members and other households. It includes activities such as caring for children and the elderly, cooking, cleaning, washing, and fetching water or firewood. It may also take place within the wider community. Local studies analysing gendered practises as relating to the various aspects of life (social, economic/resources, political, institutional, etc.) are abundant in the literature. However, there are only a few studies that specifically deal with gendered division of labour or time use. One such study is by (Desta, 2019, 507–541), who analysed the determinants of women’s housework time, finding that time availability, resources, and traditional gender perception and practise have negative associations with a woman’s housework time. Women’s time spent on housework per day, controlling for other demographic and socioeconomic variables, showed that time availability, relative resources or bargaining, and gender ideology/display were determinants of housework time.
As reported by (Desta, 2019, 507–541) as regards gender, 435 (86.7%) women have performed more housework compared to what was performed by men, with more traditional gender perception and practise resulting in more housework hours. Time spent on housework increases with an increase in the number of young children but declines for women with three or more children. Data suggests that poor women may have to cut housework hours in favour of working for earnings or combine them. The association between gendered division of housework and poverty has been acknowledged by past research. In developing countries where women work a disproportionate share and have longer hours of housework than men, these activities often prevent them from participating in paid work and prevent girls from attending school. Reducing the burden of housework for women in poor countries has potential benefits for their health, household income, and well-being, as well as for girls’ schooling. (Desta, 2019, 507–541) recommend that national strategies should focus on education, working capital, and employment opportunities to empower women and minimise gendered housework.
The impact of women’s unpaid domestic and care work on their ability to participate in the labour force and in global policy discussions has grown in importance. The widespread notion that women are primary carers in most societies has influenced labour markets around the globe. Time spent on unpaid household work in childhood and adolescence negatively impacts future opportunities for paid work and earnings. Boys and girls do different types of unpaid household work, with boys spending less time on caring and chores and more time on tasks. Young women and girls spend more time doing unpaid work in adolescence, which negatively affects job quality and hourly earnings. Their lower labour force participation, low productivity, and low-paying jobs are sources of power imbalances. According to (Carmichael et al., 2023, 1–37), the gender earnings gap is driven by coefficient rather than endowment effects, but the endowment effect of longer hours in household care and chores at younger ages widens it. Women are less likely to be in paid work and earn less than men in low- and middle-income countries, largely due to their larger share of household work as children and longer hours of household work.
Employed women are expected to be less likely to spend much time on housework, and (Desta, 2019, 507–541) found a statistically significant association between a woman’s employment status and her hours of housework. Gender wage differentials vary in impact, cause, and persistence, with the global gender wage gap estimated at 20% in 2018/19 (Carmichael et al., 2023, 1–37). Findings have policy implications for supporting the employment outcomes of young people as they link the larger share of unpaid household work undertaken by girls to lower quality employment and the gender earnings gap. Additionally, the findings suggest the link between time use, parental aspirations at earlier ages, and later life outcomes widens gender inequality, and longer hours of household work in childhood and adolescence are associated with higher rates of young women’s employment participation and restrict their opportunities for better-quality jobs with higher earnings in adulthood.
Excessive caring duties can limit girls’ and women’s rights to freedom of speech, association, leisure, education, professional development, paid work opportunities, and participation in politics. Despite the increased attention that has recently been given to unpaid care work, the evidence base on factors that influence levels and changes in household care responsibilities remains limited. Hora (2014) studied women’s representation and participation in public leadership and decision-making positions and found that women’s representation in the permanent employment of both regional and federal civil services and their employment in the formal sector are lower than men’s in Ethiopia. Women are underrepresented in the formal sector of employment, with the highest percentage of female employees engaged in domestic activities (78%), followed by unpaid activities (59.3%). As reported by (Hora, 2014), the major barriers hindering women from public leadership and decision-making positions include socio-cultural attitudes, an overburden of domestic responsibilities, and a lack of role models for young women and girls.
In Ethiopia, women’s income is generally low, and the majority of them are financially dependent on men. In developing nations, gender inequality is a factor in low living standards, access to productive resources, lack of access to education, unequal employment opportunities, access to essential health care services, and the protection of fundamental human rights. Although the government has taken steps to increase women’s involvement in political, economic, and social development, there are still differences between men and women in terms of historical and socioeconomic indicators for community work engagement. According to (Kenea, 2019, 86–118), social and cultural norms, an excessive amount of unpaid work, a lack of access to financial and material resources, and lower bargaining power in the labour market all work against women’s participation in development activities.
Traditional and cultural roles, overburdened of family responsibilities, and cultural expectations have a self-fulfilling effect, leading to girls and boys believing women have no legitimate place in decision-making. Women are excluded from political and public leadership and decision-making structures due to socio-cultural, individual, and institutional factors. As reported by (Hora, 2014) if favourable conditions are set and women are provided the position to lead, they are as effective and successful as or more than their male counterparts. According to (Kenea, 2019, 86-118), it is crucial for economic development to create laws that encourage and support women to use the public sector and address structural barriers. (Kassa, 2015, 162) also examines the challenges and opportunities of women’s political participation in Ethiopia and found that economic, religious, social, and cultural factors contributed to women’s poor participation and recommends equal participation in decision-making and politics is necessary for women’s interests to be taken into account. To encourage women to use public services, governments must increase service accessibility, provide training, and support community-based initiatives. To remove obstacles preventing women from accessing and using these services, strategies should be developed to reduce gender inequality, empower women, change gender norms, give women a priority in decision-making, strengthen pressure groups, and use affirmative action.
Women farmers are often left out of adapting to climate change due to social norms and work burdens. Rapid agricultural growth is essential for development, food security, and poverty alleviation, and rural women are key to success. Women play a significant role in agricultural and food production but are often unpaid and paid less for the same work than men. They manage complex households and pursue multiple livelihood strategies, producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members, and maintaining homes. (Abate, 2017, 207 – 214) assess gender division of labour in agriculture and household activities and assess the main constraints faced by rural women involved in agricultural work. Women are more likely to spend more time in agricultural activities, such as seed-bed preparation, harvesting, weeding, transporting, and storage preparation, than men.
Unpaid work is heavily feminised and the burden of unpaid work may increase or decrease as a result of sustainable interventions. (Abate, 2017, 207 – 214) observed gender-responsive labour activities, such as cooking, cleaning, elder care, childcare, and community-based volunteering; it found that women are excluded from deciding what crops to plant, purchasing and sale of livestock, farm inputs, and land plots. The traditional sexual division of labour in the study area confined women to domestic labour, including food preparation, fetching water, collecting fuel wood, and caring for the family. The constraints which inhibit women’s participation in development endeavours are heavy domestic workload, low time spent away from home, less freedom of movement than men, and low educational status. (Abate, 2017, 207 – 214) argued if women are given more rights, taboos are broken, and cultural attitudes towards them change, their labour contribution could be appreciated.
(Berhanu et al., 2019)demonstrated that the primary barriers to young women’s future prospects and the primary causes of child marriage are unpaid domestic work and the control of women’s sexuality. The findings show that marriage is strongly related to young people’s future prospects. This is characterised by very limited employment and economic opportunities for youth and these limitations have led to increasing migration flows; and even international migration. (Berhanu et al., 2019) pointed out that social expectations regarding young women’s sexual purity and unpaid domestic work constrain their future prospects and advised promoting a more gender-equitable division of domestic labour and changes in traditional gender norms can be seen in the increased value placed on girls and young women’s primary education as well as young women’s participation in economic activities outside the home. Secondly, (Berhanu et al., n.d.,) suggested that young women’s secondary education should be supported financially or by easing parents’ concerns about their daughters moving to more urban areas. This would increase their chances of completing secondary education successfully.
- What do women/men/youth think/feel about women’s unpaid care burden?
“Youth transition” is a concept used to explain young people’s choices when they leave compulsory education. In many low-income countries, schooling has not been or is not available, and young people’s transitions are non-linear. This has become a common concern for policy interventions globally, as children who live in poverty may benefit least from the education system. Young people’s labour is essential in rural areas, both paid and unpaid, and much research has focused on urban youth. (Chuta & Morrow, 2015) explored the situation of young people in rural Ethiopia who have not completed a cycle of basic education due to parental expectations and family livelihoods. It focuses on two categories of transition: work and livelihoods and marriage, and concludes that transition in Ethiopia is not neat, with no straightforward progression through education or training to paid work or domestic work. Young people’s trajectories differ according to factors such as gender, place of residence, socio-economic background, education, changing social norms, and cultural expectations.
Young people in rural poverty in Ethiopia take up paid work and/or contribute their labour to their families’ farming and off-farm activities, which is seen as interdependence rather than autonomy. Young people’s trajectories in rural Ethiopia are shaped by economic instability and social and cultural factors, leading to conflict between personal and family needs. Young people leave school early and transition directly to the labour force; school-to-work schemes often do not consider young people not at school and already working in the informal sector. The other concept discussed in the literature is that early marriage is an important aspect of adulthood in rural Ethiopia, where children may not have access to formal schooling and assume adult responsibilities from an early age. (Chuta & Morrow, 2015) found that young people’s norms and actions are constrained by their communities’ accepted norms, so it is important to consider their specific needs and determine the most effective approaches. Policies and programmes should consider cultural definitions of acceptability when designing interventions to protect girls from premarital sexual activity, rape, and pregnancy. Parents want their children to be educated, but economic problems and cultural beliefs and norms are important when making decisions about sending girls to school or marriage.
Gender is a social construct that codifies differences between the sexes and social relationships between women and men. Gender roles and relationships influence the division of work, the use of resources, and the sharing of the benefits of production between women and men. Gendered cultural norms, values, and practises in rural Ethiopia perpetuate the low status of women, making them voiceless and powerless in all spheres of life, and women continue to work more hours than men on domestic tasks, with sex segregation of housework. Gender-specific behaviour is determined by culture, with girls encouraged to play with dolls and boys channelled towards aggressive toys. Gender differences in attitudes towards work and gender-role attitudes are important determinants of gender inequality in the labour market. Respondents have positive sex and family role orientations but have a negative attitude towards gendered sex roles. Men’s attitudes and practises about household division of labour have changed in Wolaita Sodo town, southern Ethiopia. (Zewude et al., 2021, 101–114) findings show that most (86.1%) share household tasks with their spouses, and gender division of labour is changing, with education, religious leaders, role models, and support from male relatives playing a key role.
(Heissler & Porter, 2013) examine the roles of children’s work in the household economy in Ethiopia and answer two research questions: what factors shape work roles and how do household members value children’s contributions? They found greater flexibility and dynamism as regards gender and age within the household division of labour and a contradiction with some types of work. Ethiopian children play a central role in the household economy, with work essential for schooling and interdependence between girls and boys. Household composition, birth order, and sibling composition determine which children do which type of work, with some having heavier burdens than others. According to (Heissler & Porter, 2013) findings, siblings play an important role in teaching prosocial skills and providing flexibility in working hours to meet household and schooling obligations, and the oldest girls in the household often have higher workloads than their brothers and their younger sisters. This finding is particularly important in the design of social protection programmes with a labour requirement, and integrating research methods to gain a more complete picture of children’s experiences is important. In addition, according to (Chuta & Morrow, 2015) findings, migration is seen as a pathway to adulthood among rural young people, either as a rite of passage or as a means to achieve educational aspirations. Rural children and young people in low-income countries are particularly disadvantaged in terms of education, with leaving school being the most common first transition to work. This is related to poverty, not poor academic performance.
(Crivello et al., 2019) reviews the changing place of motherhood in the lives of girls and young women in Ethiopia from a generational, life course perspective and examines the social value given to, and roles of marriage and motherhood in, life trajectories towards womanhood, and highlights changes in these values and practices across generations. (Crivello et al., 2019) have stated that young mothers have a vital role to play in influencing social change and reshaping family life and social relations, as they become mothers at different ages within the second decade of their lives. Addressing structural inequalities increases the likelihood of gains being sustained through the transition to adulthood. The other findings from (Crivello et al., 2019) is that the younger generation of Ethiopian women have complex, nuanced and contradictory expressions of female agency across the early life course. They are exposed to emerging social values related to children’s rights and gender equity, but these expressions of agency come with social risks, especially after motherhood. These young women are increasingly subject to the influence of patriarchy. Marriage was seen as a way to gain independence and gain social status and finding showed that young married women, aged 19, were spending up to 8 hours a day on unpaid work and care, reflecting the naturalisation of rigid gender norms that assigned men the role of ‘breadwinners’ and women, carers. Young mothers argued that the man had the decision-making power and the wife had to be polite and obedient, while some claimed that men were ‘useless’ at childcare.
The findings from (Crivello et al., 2019) emphasise the role of context in making sense of young women’s choices and empowerment. Education and gender equality are central features of modern childhood in Ethiopia, but there are challenges to achieving these goals due to poverty and discriminatory gender norms. Young people’s entrapment between tradition and modern life leads to uncertainty in life choices, and the study found that young women had greater choice in their pathways to adulthood, but their capacity to make independent decisions was limited. Gender inequality between girls and boys is caused by a socially biassed outlook, economic status, social attitudes towards girls’ and boys’ education, and household decision-making. It is difficult to change, but behavioural change among both men and women and the community as a whole is needed. According to (Dula, 2019) gender roles in rural societies restrict women’s choices, leading to time poverty and unpaid domestic and reproductive activities, which can have a negative impact on women’s economic opportunities. Rural women’s domestic unpaid work and the lack of substitutability of female labour in household work by men limit their access to paid employment. Low access to assets affects women’s bargaining power as it affects decisions regarding production, consumption, and human capital formation. Research has indicated that a lack of bargaining power is responsible for women’s restricted access to information and new technologies in agricultural production. This finding was supported by (Dula, 2019) which states that female time poverty leads to fewer opportunities and unequal educational outcomes, hindering women from competing for more skilled and better paid jobs. Gender discrimination often results in lower school enrolments and attainments for girls, which worsens their educational levels and also contributes to unequal educational outcomes, hindering women from competing with men for more skilled and better paid jobs.
Recent findings also state that women spent the majority of their labour time on agricultural activities, with a higher proportion of unpaid household responsibilities. Rural women play a variety of roles in agricultural production, including producers, distributors, processors, and domestic chores, and represent 50% of the agricultural workforce in Africa. Women typically take on three roles in terms of paid and unpaid labour: productive, reproductive, and community management. They are major contributors to the agricultural workforce in some developing countries, making up a large share of the labour force. Gender roles and relationships influence the division of work between women and men, but little is known about their contribution to household income and food security. According to (Tigabie et al., 2022) girls had a better advantage than women in agricultural production activities, but cultural and community norms and social taboos hindered their participation. Women contributed a higher share of household labour requirements than men in rural households, and reproductive activities were mostly done by women, with 64 percent of household labour requirements covered by women. Men worked for 7 and a half hours per day, while women worked for 14 hours per day. Women’s participation in agricultural activities was mainly affected by age, marital status, and social capital, with girls having a better chance. Single women are more responsible for managing their households and participating in agricultural activities. (Tigabie et al., 2022) found that women contributed 42.8 percent of agricultural labour supply, consistent with Messay (2012), Aklilu (2014), Cheryl (2011), and the World Bank (2013). Most women participated in self-employed off-farm activities to enhance their household income, with 70 percent performed by female household members and the balance by male family members.
References
Abate, N. (2017). An investigation of gender division of labour: The case of Delanta district, South Wollo zone, Ethiopia. Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, 9(9), 207 – 214.
Berhanu, A., Tesama, D., Worku, B., Mekonnen, A., Juanola, L., & Kwaak, A. v. d. (2019). The situation of child marriage in Qewet and Bahir Dar Zurida: a focus on gender roles, parenting and young people’s future perspectives. Yes I Do.
Carmichael, F., Darko, C., Kanji, S., & Vasilakos, N. (2023). The Contribution of Girls’ Longer Hours In Unpaid Work To Gender Gaps In Early Adult Employment: Evidence From Ethiopia, India, Peru, And Vietnam. Feminist Economics, 29(1), 1 – 37.
Chuta, N., & Morrow, V. (2015). Youth trajectories through work and marriage in rural Ethiopia. Young Lives, 135.
Crivello, G., Boyden, J., & Pankhurst, A. (2019). ‘Motherhood in Childhood’: Generational Change in Ethiopia. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 3(1-2), 12.
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), 507–541.
Dula, T. (2019). Impact of Gender Inequality in Socio-Economic Development: The Case of Women in Ethiopia. Developing Country Studies, 9(11).
Heissler, K., & Porter, C. (2013). Know Your Place: Ethiopian Children’s Contributions to the Household Economy. European Journal of Development Research, 25(4), 600 -620.
Hora, E. A. (2014). Factors that affect Women Participation in Leadership and Decision Making Position. Asian Journal of Humanity, Art and Literature, 1(2).
Kassa, S. (2015). Challenges and Opportunities of Women Political Participation in Ethiopia. Journal of Global Economics, 3(4), 162.
Kenea, R. B. (2019). Impacts of gender differences on women’s participation in community work in Abbay Chomman woreda, Ethiopia. International Journal of Management Studies and Social Science Research, 13(6), 86 – 118.
Tigabie, M. A., Kassa, Y., Teferra, B., & Mamo, D. (2022). Rural women’s role in agriculture and household workloads: the case of North Shewa Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The Official Journal of the Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), 2(2), 86.
Zewude, B., Melese, B., & Habtegiorgis, T. (2021). The Attitude of Married Men towards Gender Division of Labor and their Experiences in Sharing Household Tasks with their Marital Spouses in Southern Ethiopia. East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6(2), 101 – 114.
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