Rifat Zafreen :
‘My mother does nothing, she is a home maker’, replies Tipu while asked what his mother is. Tipu is a university student who yet considers his mother’s household work is of no contribution at all let alone its financial value.
This perspective is almost same worldwide and very grave in Bangladesh. The value of unpaid household work of Bangladeshi women is equivalent to as much as 87.2 percent of last fiscal year’s GDP. This statistics gives a dim scenario of the country done by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Women’s unpaid activities are considered non-economic and thus remain outside the traditional framework of GDP estimation. This results macroeconomic policy-making misleading and discriminatory towards women.
In the research run by CPD, it has been found that based on replacement cost method, the estimated value of women’s unpaid work is equivalent to 76.8 percent (tk 594,845 crore in constant prices) of the GDP in FY 2013-14.
And based on willingness to accept method, the corresponding estimate was equivalent to 87.2 percent (tk 675,398 crore in constant prices) of the GDP in FY 2013-14. These figures are 2.5 to 2.9 times higher than the total of women’s paid services, according to the study.
This is to mention that replacement cost is a method which measures how much money one would pay monthly if she/he was to hire a person to do the household chores instead of doing them by her or himself. And in willingness to accept method, the value is calculated on how much money one wishes to pay for all unpaid work that she/he does daily. This comprehensive survey was done upon 13,640 individuals aged 15 years and above by CPD in collaboration with Manusher Jonno Foundation in 2014.
According to the study, the time spent by a female on unpaid activities is about three times higher than that of a male person.
On an average, a female spends around eight hours on unpaid activities a day while a male spends around three hours. A female undertakes around 13 unpaid chores daily while a male does only around three chores.
Wage discrimination against women works as one of the main reasons for their lower contribution in the national economy that government should take legal measures for eliminating wage discrimination against women in all sectors that wage-based employment for them can increase the contribution of women to the economy. This contribution over the years is underestimated in the country.
Again, women’s freedom to spend their earned money speaks of a sad music. About 51.7 percent of women who are involved in paid work have the freedom to spend their earned income. Nearly 41 percent need to discuss this with their family members while 7.2 percent need to seek permission.
These phenomena are more common in rural areas. Among the women who are involved only in household work, one-fourth wishes to be involved in paid work. Interestingly enough, the willingness is higher in rural areas (28.9 percent) than in urban areas (19.8 percent).
Women’s work especially the household chores they do generally remain unrecognized, unpaid, unmeasured, unsung and thus remain invisible.
They have the right to have equality through dignity. Our government and policymakers should put a deep insight and look into this issue with an aim to raising their status in the society.
Government thus can focus on changing the estimation practice of the System of National Accounting so that women’s unaccounted activities are reflected in the GDP.
Government also can undertake programmes which may contribute in decreasing the work load of women in the household like through increasing the accessibility of drinking water, natural gas for cooking and setting up Day-care centers for children. This may reduce the work load and time of women.
Media also can play a very vital role in this case, through its power to bring positive notion in the society. We have to uplift the notion that they are the power and resource of us.
This in turn would help them either to make their contribution to the economy more visible or to have their own personal time for having their breathing space at least.
PID-UNICEF Feature
