Explorations: Time-use surveys in the south

Abstract

Time-use surveys show how individuals spend their time during the day or week, which provides evidence of the gendered division of labor within households and the interdependence of women's and men's paid and unpaid work. Time-use experts in the South face similar challenges to those working in other countries, but they also have to come to terms with the restrictions faced in less developed contexts – notably higher illiteracy rates and limited statistical budgets. These Explorations bring together contributions from three experts on time-use survey design and administration working in three diverse Southern regions to highlight the ongoing processes of learning-by-doing and of building local expertise in these regions. Their discussion of methodological and logistical issues holds particular relevance for developing countries moving toward the implementation of time-use surveys. It also bears on more general feminist concerns regarding the classification and measurement of unpaid care.

Keywords:

• Survey research
• time budget surveys
• unpaid work
• JEL Codes: C81, J22

Notes

The (Trial) International Classification of Activities for Time-Use Statistics (ICATUS) was conceived of as a universal methodology for conducting TUS and sought to foster a universal time-use activity classification. It was developed with the intention of keeping in mind the needs of developing countries. UNSD has produced two classifications, one in 1997 and another in 2000–1 (and modified later on). The 1997 ICATUS has been used, and in some cases adapted, by some developing countries.

Ginwala subsequently became the speaker of the first post-apartheid parliament.

Countries represented were Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Because available information is scattered and out-of-date, there might be other cases of which I am not aware. In particular, I was not able to gather enough information about a Chilean survey (María Luisa Rojas and Lylian Mires 2002) and the Belo Horizonte Time-Use Survey in Brazil (Neuma Aguiar 2007).

The Mexican 1996 TUS falls into this category because it has not collected data on “sleeping, eating, socializing and resting” (INEGI 2002: 7).

The Uruguayan TUS follows a methodology applied successfully in Spain (Cristina García Sainz 2005).

These are not “light diaries”: there is no information on the chronology of activities (see the discussion on activity diaries in the following section).

This can potentially be problematic as some activities asked (for example, productive work and social events) most frequently take place on different weekdays.

There are other diaries that use open time slots, like the 1998 Mexican TUS. Results from the 1998 Mexican TUS have not been published, precluding its analysis.

The Buenos Aires TUS draws heavily on the 2000 South African TUS, though it introduced several changes in interviewers guiding questions, activity classification, context variables, probing questions, and the way in which simultaneous activities are recorded (Debbie Budlender 2007).

A distinctive feature of the 2005 Buenos Aires TUS is that all household members' socio-demographic and labor market data is available from the core Annual Household Survey it was attached to (Esquivel forthcoming).

This is even clearer when time-use data collection is discontinued after attempts tied to one-time-only (foreign) funding.

Of course, they are not alone. This is the view that permeates the tone of the Guide to Producing Statistics on Time Use: Measuring Paid and Unpaid Work (UNSD 2005).

Indeed, most surveys that targeted households ended up analyzing individuals as their observation unit.

Though in the case of Montevideo, distributive measures are derived from information provided by the respondent (the “main person in charge of household tasks”).

However, distributive analyses are rarely performed (see Valeria Esquivel 2006 for an example).

In a different treatment of hierarchical (main/secondary) activities, the Guide defines simultaneous activities as main and secondary performed in parallel (UNSD 2005: 143ss). However, parallel activities needn't be prioritized (Waring 2006: 6).

Passive care was included in the Buenos Aires TUS Classification of Activities. Fieldworkers were trained to differentiate it from active care (see Budlender 2007 and Esquivel [forthcoming]).

The present author headed the Technical Committee.

Industrialized countries are using time-use studies for understanding (1) unpaid non-economic domestic services; (2) time spent on self-development or human-capital formation – such as education, training, reading, etc.; (3) social interactions, social networking, and community-based volunteer work; and (4) leisure time and leisure-time activities, etc.

The activity classifications in industrialized countries usually devote only one group to SNA activities, which then has a few sub-groups to more specifically describe those SNA activities.

These groups are (1) employment for establishment; (2) primary production activities (not for establishments); (3) service for income and other production of goods (not for establishments); (4) household maintenance, management, and shopping for own household; (5) caring for children, the sick, elderly, and disabled members of the household; (6) community services and help to other households; (7) learning; (8) social and cultural activities; (9) mass media use; and (10) personal care and self maintenance.

It should be noted that UNSD called another meeting of experts in 2000 and developed a modified time-use activity classification, which was further modified in the following years. This classification has fifteen major groups (UNSD 2005).

Necessary Time is the time devoted to personal care activities such as sleeping, eating, personal hygiene, etc. Contracted Time refers to explicit contracts which control the periods of times in which activities are performed. Committed Time describes activities to which a person has committed herself/himself because of previous social and community interactions, such as setting up home, performing community work, etc. And Free Time is the amount of time left when the previous three types of time have been taken out of a personal day.