Unpaid Care Work in Egypt: Gender Gaps in Time Use

Using the most recent wave of Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey data from 2023, this paper provides an overview of the gender gap in unpaid care work and how it relates to labor market outcomes. With the inclusion of a 24-hour time use module in ELMPS 2023, we are able to examine women's time use in terms of unpaid care work and paid employment activities relative to their male counterparts, taking into account their socioeconomic profiles. The paper concludes by delving into perceptions and attitudes regarding gender norms, and how they correlate with women’s time use patterns in Egypt. Results show that compared with men, women spent a disproportionate amount of time on unpaid care work in Egyptian households. Marriage and childbearing were associated with longer hours dedicated to unpaid care work activities. Employed women faced a double burden of having to balance their paid and unpaid work commitments, with married women who were wage employed being the most heavily penalized. Finally, our analysis of the correlation between gender norms and time use patterns shows that more egalitarian gender norms did not necessarily translate into a lower gender gap in the actual time spent on unpaid care work.Length: 51