#3 - Overstretched and Under-Recorded
With the underpinning standpoint of progressing capabilities now established, the next post will focus on elucidating the gendered water issues hindering the lives of individuals living within Africa. There are three areas of concern: uneven time allocations between men and women, privatisation of water resources, and the affect of scarce water on sanitary practices and disease. We will see that these three issues are at the heart of developing unilateral equality and by ameliorating these areas of concern it will unequivocally foster the progressing of the capabilities and individual freedoms of both men and women.
This post will deal with the less colloquial notion of poverty, that which is orientated around time use. Aside from the common understanding of economic poverty, the idea of time poverty stresses that poverty is not just a function of money, but of time. Time poverty analysis attempts to quantify the overworking of both men and women living in a society in order to assess for equality labour divisions. It illuminates the injustices when it comes to individuals making unconstrained choices surrounding their own time use. Empirical evidence suggests that their are marked differences in time use for both men and women, perpetuated by wage inequalities, non-wage factors, labour and goods market functioning, alongside social and cultural norms constituting what is seen as mens and women work (Cagatay, 1998, Chant, 2008). In light of this, time poverty is clearly a gendered issue which needs to be incorporated into development literatures to strengthen policies and initiatives aimed towards improving living and working conditions. These thoughts were first echoed at the Platform for Action of Beijing (PFA) by the UN in 1995, finding that much of women work is unrecognised and unvalued and this disparages the status of women in society, their opportunities in public life and the gender blindness of policy (UNDP 1995).
Certainly, when it comes to paid or unpaid, productive or reproductive work some of the latter is wholly indispensable. In the reproductive sphere, certain household tasks like food provision, child care and domestic work are inescapable. This is only exacerbated if the household in question is economically poor as accessing safe water sources, cooking methods and infrastructures are more difficult and time consuming. It is commonly found that these household time overheads are unjustly delegated to women, motivated by social and cultural norms, meaning that there is a high incidence of time poverty for women in particular to make unconstrained choices about their lives (Harvey and Taylor 2000). These unconstrained choices may facilitate women accessing a higher education, contributing to productive and economic spheres, or investing their time in helping the community, however, they are either unable to do so, or have to extend the stress upon their bodies through working greater hours. The Time Use Analysis data below, provided by Indira Airway (2007), substantiates the magnitude of this issue with woman working far greater hours than men per day in all circumstances presented across Africa.
Table 8.1 Time Spent per Day on Paid and Unpaid Work (minutes)
Clearly, these injustices are a matter of macroeconomic concern as the disparity between time poverty is not just unjust, but it perpetutes gender inequalities in economic, cultural and social realms. Studies find that being a girl or an independent woman means you are predisposed to the burdens of the household overhead (Blackden and Wodon,2006). In the more economically impoverished communities of Africa, resource collection, household responsibilities, food procurement and childcare take up a considerable amount of the females time burden which is continually hindered by inadequate infrastructures in water, energy and transportation. Like in Tanzania, the capabilities of these women are able to be advanced through the development of key infrastructures which aim to increase the efficiencies of the tasks which they face. While I acknowledge that this approach is reactive to a underlying patriarchal system which defines these roles within the household as female, a proactive approach in dismantling this system and establishing both genders as equal contributors to productive and reproductive work is infeasible due to its longer gestation and tardiness to effect change at as fast a rate as advancing infrastructures. From the capabilities perspective, emphasising the importance of improving infrastructures in resource procurement is of paramount importance when creating a more egalitarian society. As will be evident in later posts, improving these water infrastructures not only contributes to lower time poverty and higher capabilities but it improves levels of sanitation for both women, men and children, fostering more healthy and productive communities.
In order for this to be achieved, a great deal of academic literature has been attributed to incorporating time use, through time use surveys, alongside the systems of national accounts, to determine a more complete presentation of the economy and society. Time use surveys provide vital information on the informal sectors which are not measured through standardised national statistics in order to reduce gender blindness and account for both paid and unpaid work when appropriating policy. Through the use of these surveys it is possible to engender developments in order to effect poverty, improve living and working conditions for women and systematically reduce the time inequalities between men and women through providing effective infrastructures. Through being able to quantify time use, using arduous, but, data rich methods such as direct observation and interviewing techniques, individuals are able to create a fully chronology of women and men's daily routines. From the egalitarian perspective, this technique unequivocally advances the applicability of development policies to improve upon the fundamentally gendered issue of time poverty as stressed above. The use of time use surveys, amongst other methods, makes it possible to provide effective change through enumerating, understanding and then reducing the time burdens women face. These burdens restrict the economic freedoms and capabilities of women living amongst African communities. Whether due to the demands of water collection and provision, among other household duties, improving the propensity for women and men in Africa to make unconstrained choices about their livelihoods is instrumental in fostering greater economic and human development.
This post will deal with the less colloquial notion of poverty, that which is orientated around time use. Aside from the common understanding of economic poverty, the idea of time poverty stresses that poverty is not just a function of money, but of time. Time poverty analysis attempts to quantify the overworking of both men and women living in a society in order to assess for equality labour divisions. It illuminates the injustices when it comes to individuals making unconstrained choices surrounding their own time use. Empirical evidence suggests that their are marked differences in time use for both men and women, perpetuated by wage inequalities, non-wage factors, labour and goods market functioning, alongside social and cultural norms constituting what is seen as mens and women work (Cagatay, 1998, Chant, 2008). In light of this, time poverty is clearly a gendered issue which needs to be incorporated into development literatures to strengthen policies and initiatives aimed towards improving living and working conditions. These thoughts were first echoed at the Platform for Action of Beijing (PFA) by the UN in 1995, finding that much of women work is unrecognised and unvalued and this disparages the status of women in society, their opportunities in public life and the gender blindness of policy (UNDP 1995).
Certainly, when it comes to paid or unpaid, productive or reproductive work some of the latter is wholly indispensable. In the reproductive sphere, certain household tasks like food provision, child care and domestic work are inescapable. This is only exacerbated if the household in question is economically poor as accessing safe water sources, cooking methods and infrastructures are more difficult and time consuming. It is commonly found that these household time overheads are unjustly delegated to women, motivated by social and cultural norms, meaning that there is a high incidence of time poverty for women in particular to make unconstrained choices about their lives (Harvey and Taylor 2000). These unconstrained choices may facilitate women accessing a higher education, contributing to productive and economic spheres, or investing their time in helping the community, however, they are either unable to do so, or have to extend the stress upon their bodies through working greater hours. The Time Use Analysis data below, provided by Indira Airway (2007), substantiates the magnitude of this issue with woman working far greater hours than men per day in all circumstances presented across Africa.
Table 8.1 Time Spent per Day on Paid and Unpaid Work (minutes)
Country
|
Male
|
Female
|
Tanzania TUS 2006 (18–49 year olds)
|
458
|
543
|
South Africa TUS 2000 (Mean time per day)
|
273
|
332
|
Ghana TUS 2009
|
557
|
601
|
Madagascar TUS 2002
|
435
|
530
|
Tunisia TUS 2006
|
295
|
405
|
Table 8.2 Time Spent per Day on Unpaid Work (minutes)
Country
|
Male
|
Female
|
Tanzania TUS 2006
|
85
|
248
|
South Africa TUS 2000
|
82
|
210
|
Ghana TUS 2009
|
111
|
229
|
Madagascar TUS 2002
|
40
|
210
|
Tunisia TUS 2006
|
40
|
315
|
In order for this to be achieved, a great deal of academic literature has been attributed to incorporating time use, through time use surveys, alongside the systems of national accounts, to determine a more complete presentation of the economy and society. Time use surveys provide vital information on the informal sectors which are not measured through standardised national statistics in order to reduce gender blindness and account for both paid and unpaid work when appropriating policy. Through the use of these surveys it is possible to engender developments in order to effect poverty, improve living and working conditions for women and systematically reduce the time inequalities between men and women through providing effective infrastructures. Through being able to quantify time use, using arduous, but, data rich methods such as direct observation and interviewing techniques, individuals are able to create a fully chronology of women and men's daily routines. From the egalitarian perspective, this technique unequivocally advances the applicability of development policies to improve upon the fundamentally gendered issue of time poverty as stressed above. The use of time use surveys, amongst other methods, makes it possible to provide effective change through enumerating, understanding and then reducing the time burdens women face. These burdens restrict the economic freedoms and capabilities of women living amongst African communities. Whether due to the demands of water collection and provision, among other household duties, improving the propensity for women and men in Africa to make unconstrained choices about their livelihoods is instrumental in fostering greater economic and human development.