IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2019-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Reducing and Redistributing Unpaid Work: Stronger Policies to Support Gender Equality

Author

Listed:
  • Cristian Alonso
  • Mariya Brussevich
  • Ms. Era Dabla-Norris
  • Yuko Kinoshita
  • Ms. Kalpana Kochhar

Abstract

Unpaid work, such as caring for children, the elderly, and household chores represents a significant share of economic activity but is not counted as part of GDP. Women disproportionately shoulder the burden of unpaid work: on average, women do two more hours of unpaid work per day than men, with large differences across countries. While much unpaid care work is done entirely by choice, constraints imposed by cultural norms, labor market features or lack of public services, infrastructure, and family-friendly policies matter. This undermines female labor force participation and lowers economy-wide productivity. In this paper, we examine recent trends in unpaid work around the world using aggregate and individual-level data, explore potential drivers, and identify policies that can help reduce and redistribute unpaid work across genders. Conservative model-based estimates suggest that the gains from these policies could amount to up to 4 percent of GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristian Alonso & Mariya Brussevich & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Yuko Kinoshita & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar, 2019. "Reducing and Redistributing Unpaid Work: Stronger Policies to Support Gender Equality," IMF Working Papers 2019/225, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2019/225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=48688
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bridgman, Benjamin & Duernecker, Georg & Herrendorf, Berthold, 2018. "Structural transformation, marketization, and household production around the world," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 102-126.
    2. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    3. L. Rachel Ngai & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1-44, October.
    4. Ms. Katrin Elborgh-Woytek & Ms. Monique Newiak & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio & Mr. Kangni R Kpodar & Mr. Philippe Wingender & Mr. Benedict J. Clements & Mr. Gerd Schwartz, 2013. "Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2013/010, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Robert Duval-Hernandez & Lei Fang & L. Rachel Ngai, 2017. "Taxes and Market Hours: The Role of Gender and Skill," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2017-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    6. Garnero, Andrea & Kampelmann, Stephan & Rycx, François, 2013. "Part-time Work, Wages and Productivity: Evidence from Belgian Matched Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7789, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    8. Martin Feldstein & Daniel R. Feenberg, 1996. "The Taxation of Two-Earner Families," NBER Chapters, in: Empirical Foundations of Household Taxation, pages 39-75, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ichino, Andrea & Olsson, Martin & Petrongolo, Barbara & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2019. "Economic Incentives, Childcare and Gender Identity Norms," Working Paper Series 1283, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 04 May 2021.
    10. Andrea Ichino & Martin Olsson & Barbara Petrongolo & Peter Skogman Thoursie, 2019. "Economic incentives, home production and gender identity norms," CEP Discussion Papers dp1626, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Christian Gonzales & Sonali Jain-Chandra & Kalpana Kochhar & Monique Newiak, 2015. "Fair Play; More Equal Laws Boost Female Labor Force Participation," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/2, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Giovanni Peri, 2014. "Do immigrant workers depress the wages of native workers?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-42, May.
    13. Ms. Sonali Jain-Chandra & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak & Yang Yang & Ms. Edda Zoli, 2018. "Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?," IMF Working Papers 2018/105, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Mr. Christian Gonzales & Ms. Sonali Jain-Chandra & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak, 2015. "Fair Play: More Equal Laws Boost Female Labor Force Participation," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2015/002, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Mariya Brussevich & Era Dabla-Norris & Christine Kamunge & Pooja Karnane & Salma Khalid & Kalpana Kochhar, 2018. "Gender, Technology, and the Future of Work," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/07, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Yana Gallen, 2018. "Motherhood and the Gender Productivity Gap," Working Papers 2018-091, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    17. Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Jorge A Alvarez & Mr. Raphael A Espinoza & Mr. Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion: New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/006, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Duernecker, Georg & Herrendorf, Berthold, 2018. "On the allocation of time – A quantitative analysis of the roles of taxes and productivities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 169-187.
    19. Christopher J. Ruhm, 1998. "The Economic Consequences of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons from Europe," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 285-317.
    20. Nadeem Ilahi & Franque Grimard, 2000. "Public Infrastructure and Private Costs: Water Supply and Time Allocation of Women in Rural Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 45-76.
    21. Fang Lei & McDaniel Cara, 2017. "Home hours in the United States and Europe," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-27, January.
    22. Alexander Bick & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & David Lagakos, 2018. "How Do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(1), pages 170-199, January.
    23. Martin Feldstein & James M. Poterba, 1996. "Empirical Foundations of Household Taxation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld96-1, January.
    24. Jonathan David Ostry & Jorge Alvarez & Raphael A Espinoza & Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion; New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/06, International Monetary Fund.
    25. LaLumia, Sara, 2008. "The effects of joint taxation of married couples on labor supply and non-wage income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1698-1719, July.
    26. Cubas, German, 2016. "Distortions, infrastructure, and female labor supply in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 194-215.
    27. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation," Working Papers 811, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    28. Katrin Elborgh-Woytek & Monique Newiak & Kalpana Kochhar & Stefania Fabrizio & Kangni R Kpodar & Philippe Wingender & Benedict J. Clements & Gerd Schwartz, 2013. "Women, Work, and the Economy; Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 13/10, International Monetary Fund.
    29. François Rycx & Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann, 2014. "part-time work, Wages and Productivity :Evidence from Matched panel data," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/245672, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    30. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2014. "Part-Time Work, Wages, and Productivity," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3), pages 926-954, July.
    31. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pushpendra Singh & Falguni Pattanaik & Archana Singh, 2023. "Beyond the Clock: Exploring the Complexities of Women’s Domestic Roles in India Through the Lenses of Daughters and Daughters-in-Law," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(2), pages 535-559, June.
    2. Margolies, Amy & Colantuoni, Elizabeth & Morgan, Rosemary & Gelli, Aulo & Caulfield, Laura, 2023. "The burdens of participation: A mixed-methods study of the effects of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program on women’s time use in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Andrea Salazar-Díaz, 2022. "Ingreso relativo, identidad de género y brecha en el trabajo doméstico no remunerado: Evidencia para Colombia," Borradores de Economia 1191, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    4. Mariya Brussevich & Era Dabla-Norris & Salma Khalid, 2022. "Who Bears the Brunt of Lockdown Policies? Evidence from Tele-workability Measures Across Countries," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(3), pages 560-589, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Petrongolo, Barbara & Ronchi, Maddalena, 2020. "Gender gaps and the structure of local labor markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Saudi‐Yulieth Enciso‐Alfaro & Salma Marhroub & Pedro‐José Martínez‐Córdoba & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2024. "The effect of COVID‐19 on employment: A bibliometric review of a she‐cession," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3444-3467, July.
    3. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Özcan, Berkay & Philipp, Julia, 2021. "Robots and the gender pay gap in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Petrongolo, Barbara & Ronchi, Maddalena, 2020. "A survey of gender gaps through the lens of the industry structure and local labor markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108438, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Elass, Kenza, 2024. "Male and female selection effects on gender wage gaps in three countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2018. "Women's career choices, social norms and child care policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 162-173.
    7. Hennig, Jan-Luca & Stadler, Balazs, 2021. "Firm-specific pay premiums and the gender wage gap in 21 European countries," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242354, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Jan‐luca Hennig & Balazs Stadler, 2023. "Firm‐specific pay premiums and the gender wage gap in Europe," Post-Print hal-04171877, HAL.
    9. Corekcioglu, Gozde & Francesconi, Marco & Kunze, Astrid, 2024. "Expansions in paid parental leave and mothers’ economic progress," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    10. KAWAGUCHI Daiji & TORIYABE Takahiro, 2018. "Parental Leaves and Female Skill Utilization: Evidence from PIAAC," Discussion papers 18003, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Estefanía Galván & Cecilia Parada & Martina Querejeta & Soledad Salvador, 2024. "Gender Gaps and Family Leaves in Latin America," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 387-414, June.
    12. Harris, Jorgen M. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2024. "Closing the Gender Gap: Promoting Labour Market Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 17219, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Bachmann, Ronald & Stepanyan, Gayane, 2020. "It's a Woman's World? Occupational Structure and the Rise of Female Employment in Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224626, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Turon, Hélène, 2022. "The Labour Supply of Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 15312, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Parental Leave Benefits and Child Penalties," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2016, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    16. Jan‐Luca Hennig & Balazs Stadler, 2023. "Firm‐specific pay premiums and the gender wage gap in Europe," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 911-936, July.
    17. Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2020. "Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Katrin Huber & Geske Rolvering, 2023. "Public child care and mothers’ career trajectories," Working Papers 228, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    19. Jones, Kelly & Wilcher, Britni, 2024. "Reducing maternal labor market detachment: A role for paid family leave," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2020. "Having it all, for all: Child-care subsidies and income distribution reconciled," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 188-211.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2019/225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.