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Gender Patterns and Value of Unpaid Care Work: Findings From China's First Large-Scale Time Use Survey

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  • Xiao-yuan Dong
  • Xinli An

Abstract

type="main"> Using data from the 2008 China Time Use Survey, this paper examines the gender patterns of time allocation over paid work, unpaid care work, and non-work activity and estimates the monetary value of unpaid care work. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique is applied to explore the tradeoff between the three types of activity. The estimates show that, holding constant individual characteristics and regional effects, the total work time of women is higher than that of men by 7 hours per week in the rural sector and by 10.5 hours per week in the urban sector. The monetary value of unpaid care work is estimated by five methods. Depending on the method used, the value assigned to unpaid care work varies from 25 to 32 percent of China's GDP, from 52 to 66 percent of final consumption, and from 63 to 80 percent of the gross products of tertiary industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiao-yuan Dong & Xinli An, 2015. "Gender Patterns and Value of Unpaid Care Work: Findings From China's First Large-Scale Time Use Survey," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(3), pages 540-560, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:61:y:2015:i:3:p:540-560
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    9. de Bruin, Anne & Liu, Na, 2020. "The urbanization-household gender inequality nexus: Evidence from time allocation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
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    11. Haiyue Yu & Jin Cao & Shulong Kang, 2018. "Fertility Cost, Intergenerational Labor Division, and Female Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7293, CESifo.
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    13. Margaret Maurer-Fazio & Sili Wang, 2018. "Does marital status affect how firms interpret job applicants’ un/employment histories?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 567-580, July.
    14. Athary Janiso & Prakash Kumar Shukla & Bheemeshwar Reddy A, 2021. "What Explains Gender Gap in Unpaid Household and Care Work in India?," Papers 2106.15376, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2021.
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    17. Chenghua Guan & Ling Zuo, 2021. "Sustainability of Regional Factors on the Gendered Division of Housework in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Goulding, Kristine., 2013. "Gender dimensions of national employment policies : a 24-country study," ILO Working Papers 994843093402676, International Labour Organization.
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