Monetary Value of Women’s Unpaid Work and Gender Differences thereof: A Case Study in Kollam District, Kerala Jacob Ruth Elizabeth1, Duraisamy A.2 1Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Madras Christian College, Tambaram (East), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Email: ruth@mcc.edu.in 2Professor and Dean, Faculty of Science and Humanities, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulatur, Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, Email: dean.sh.ktr@srmist.edu.in, respectively Online Published on 09 February, 2024. Abstract Studies suggest that the main reason for the low female labour force participation rate in India is due to overburdened unpaid domestic work. This paper attempts to compare time spent on unpaid work by women viz-a-viz their male counterparts. Using the Time Use Survey (TUS) and seemingly unrelated regression technique, the paper shows the trade-off between unpaid, paid and non-work activities between genders in Kollam district in the state of Kerala. Unpaid domestic work is often taken for granted and is further endorsed as the moral responsibility of the weaker sex by most cultures if not all. The findings of the study reveal that in a day, unemployed married woman who has children less than 6 years and belonging to the 36 to 40 age category spend 12.9 hours on care work but men with the same characteristics spent only 3.3 hours. Employed married women on the other hand are double burdened by paid and unpaid work which ultimately lowers their leisure time. This micro level study is done to throw light on the enormous work undertaken by women in the domestic sphere whose services are yet to be included in the national accounting system. Top Keywords Gender disparity, SUR, Kollam, Kerala, Time use, Unpaid care work. Top |