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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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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/roiw.12119
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. 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.
    3. Young-sook Kim, 2023. "A Study on the Effects of Gendered Social Norms on the Tradeoff Between Paid and Unpaid Work in Korea," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 870-882, December.
    4. Fatemeh Torabi, 2021. "Education and time investment in domestic and parental activities in urban areas of Iran," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 25-51, March.
    5. Pushpendra Singh & Falguni Pattanaik, 2020. "Unfolding unpaid domestic work in India: women’s constraints, choices, and career," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:484309 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Haiyue Yu & Jin Cao & Shulong Kang, 2018. "Fertility Cost, Intergenerational Labor Division, and Female Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7293, CESifo.
    8. 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.
    9. Zheng Shen & Xiaodong Zheng & Yiwen Tan, 2019. "The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Goulding, Kristine., 2013. "Gender dimensions of national employment policies : a 24-country study," ILO Working Papers 994843093402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Jasmine Gideon, 2016. "Migration and Health: Examining the Linkages through a Gender Lens," Working Papers id:8247, eSocialSciences.
    12. repec:ilo:ilowps:994835833402676 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. 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).
    14. Liangshu Qi & Xiao-Yuan Dong, 2013. "Housework Burdens, Quality of Market Work Time, and Men’s and Women’s Earnings in China," Departmental Working Papers 2013-01, The University of Winnipeg, Department of Economics.
    15. Liangshu Qi & Haojie Li & Lan Liu, 2017. "A note on Chinese couples’ time synchronization," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1249-1262, December.
    16. Haiyue Yu & Jin Cao & Shulong Kang, 2018. "Fertility Cost, Intergenerational Labor Division, and Female Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7293, CESifo.
    17. Athary Janiso & Prakash Kumar Shukla & Bheemeshwar Reddy A, 2024. "What explains the gender gap in unpaid housework and care work in India?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(1), January.
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    19. 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.
    20. Nitya Rao, 2018. "Global Agendas, Local Norms: Mobilizing around Unpaid Care and Domestic Work in Asia," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(3), pages 735-758, May.

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