THEME: Geographic location, season and a woman’s age and education will affect her time-use patterns.

If both market and non-market work are included, rural women’s economic day in China can be as long as 15 hours. An IFAD comparison of male and female contributions to the gross domestic product (GDP) (using data from 1992 and 1993) showed women contributing about 47%, if non-market production was also taken into account. Women’s contribution to non-market work is greater than men’s: 64% compared with 34%.

Using various sources of data, IFAD in 1995 compared rural Chinese women’s time allocation to productive activities with their time allocation to reproductive activities. The former activities were defined as work, travel to work and marketing/shopping. Reproductive activities covered cooking, washing, other domestic work, reading and leisure activities. The leisure activities were included because it was argued that they contributed to self-regeneration and therefore to efficiency and effectiveness of work (though sleep was not included). The study found that, nationwide, rural women spent somewhat more time on their reproductive on their productive roles (56.7% as compared with 43.3%). However, there was considerable variation in such time allocation among the provinces compared. In some, such as Sichuan, Jilin, Shandong, Shanxi and Yunan, women spent two or three times as much time on productive as on reproductive activities. In other areas, such as Heilongjiang, it was the reverse.

For rural men in China, the pattern is not very dissimilar, though with the men spending somewhat more time on productive than on reproductive activities: 55% versus 45%. Men in China assume a greater share of household tasks than in most countries. They even spend slightly more time shopping than women do. But women spend comparatively more time on tasks such as cooking, washing, sewing and caring for children. Whereas in most countries women allocate a large share of their time to activities that contribute to household food and energy security, in rural China, only women household heads have this exclusive responsibility.

Women’s time-use patterns also vary by age and education. Rural women over age 50 spend most of their day on housework, as physical labour in the fields is considered too taxing. Women of middle age play a key role, both at home and in the fields, in sharing crop and livestock activities with men. Younger women, as in many countries, often prefer alternatives to farming. As educational level rises, household work time for women tends to decrease, and time spent on production and leisure increases. Education broadens women’s employment opportunities.

There are also seasonal differences in time-use patterns in rural areas. During the busiest agriculture season (mid-May to mid-September) both women and men spend at least 8-10 hours in the fields. During the slack season, women usually carry out greenhouse production or income-generating activities such as handicrafts and weaving. But there is variation among provinces. In some, such as Heilongjiang, women appear to perform little productive labour during the slack months, whereas in others, such as Qinghai or Sichuan, where 50-70% of younger men have migrated or taken up cattle-herding, women’s workload is increased.

One of the most important lessons of these findings is the need to be aware of differences in time-use patterns among rural women in different parts of China, which may be related to differences in economic opportunities. Another is the need to recognize the relatively greater role of men in reproductive or domestic activities than in many countries.

Adapted from:

Hot links Rural poverty in China IFAD operations in China