{
  "title": "The Economic Cost of Devaluing “Women’s Work”",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, October 15, 2019",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work",
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  "summary": "As much as half of the world’s work is unpaid. And most of it is done by women.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- As much as half of the world’s work is unpaid. And most of it is done by women.\n- Unpaid work is not counted as part of economic activity because it is difficult to measure based on values in the marketplace.\n- Estimates place the economic value of unpaid work between 10 and 60 percent of GDP.\n- Reducing gender imbalances in unpaid work is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.\n- Reducing and redistributing unpaid work is framed as an economic imperative that can raise productivity and foster stronger economies."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings and statistics",
      "content": "- Women do 4.4 hours of unpaid work on average around the world and men only 1.7 hours.\n- Country examples:\n  - Norway: women do 3.7 hours of unpaid work, men contribute 3.\n  - Egypt: women do 5.4 hours per day of unpaid work and men only 35 minutes.\n  - US: women do 3.8 hours of unpaid work and men do 2.4 hours.\n- More than 80 percent of unpaid work hours are devoted to domestic chores aside from child and elder care.\n- UNICEF estimates that women spend 200 million hours per day worldwide simply fetching water.\n- According to UNESCO, 130 million school-age girls are not in school.\n- In India, women spend more than an hour every day collecting firewood.\n- Iceland’s parental leave policy sets the length of leave at nine months and earmarks three for each parent."
    },
    {
      "heading": "How unpaid work affects economies",
      "content": "- By not fully engaging women, economies misallocate resources—having women do low-productivity tasks at home instead of participating in higher-productivity market activities.\n- The economy misses exploiting complementarity between women and men in the workplace, resulting in lower productivity and economic growth.\n- Social institutions and values can constrain the redistribution of unpaid work by preventing men from sharing the burden at home.\n- Some unpaid work is done by choice and childrearing has societal value, but the dominance of domestic chores in unpaid work hours highlights structural constraints limiting women's market opportunities.\n- Women may choose to stay at home or work only part-time if market wages are too low or do not represent equal pay for equal work."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Drivers and constraints",
      "content": "- Cultural norms, lack of public services and infrastructure, and absence of family-friendly policies often drive unequal shares of unpaid work.\n- Limited access to education and health care restricts women’s human capital and labor market opportunities.\n- Insufficient infrastructure (water, sanitation, electricity, transportation) increases time spent on low-productivity domestic tasks."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy recommendations and interventions",
      "content": "- Improve basic infrastructure in developing economies: water supply, sanitation, electricity, and transportation to free women from low-productivity tasks.\n- Expand internet access to enable participation in the gig economy and flexible work arrangements.\n- Ensure access to education and health care for women and guarantee their use to build human capital.\n- Enshrine women’s rights in law to help reshape social institutions and values that limit access to education and healthcare.\n- Promote efficient and flexible labor markets, including active labor market policies to facilitate job matching.\n- Encourage flexible work arrangements, which are associated with less female unpaid work and better work-life balance.\n- Implement family-friendly policies:\n  - Invest in early childhood education and care to facilitate women’s return to work.\n  - Adopt greater parity in maternal and parental leave policies to smooth women’s return to work and engage fathers in care activities early on (example: Iceland’s nine-month leave with three months earmarked for each parent).\n- Private sector engagement is necessary alongside decisive government action to seize large potential gains."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Examples and supporting evidence",
      "content": "- Mexico and Brazil: better access to electricity, water, and less expensive appliances helped boost female labor force participation.\n- Switzerland: active labor market policies facilitate job matching and are cited as supportive of redistributing unpaid work.\n- Pakistan: security concerns lead many families to choose not to send girls to school, illustrating non-infrastructural barriers to service use.\n\nSource: Kristalina Georgieva, Cristian Alonso, Era Dabla-Norris, Kalpana Kochhar — October 15, 2019.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Kristalina Georgieva\n- Cristian Alonso\n- Era Dabla-Norris\n- Kalpana Kochhar\n- عربي\n- 中文,\n- 日本語\n- Português\n- study\n- https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-map1.png\n- https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-parental-leave-1-1.png\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work"
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work/index.md)",
    "[Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work/index.json)",
    "[Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work/bundle-manifest.json)",
    "Authors: Kristalina Georgieva, Cristian Alonso, Era Dabla-Norris, Kalpana Kochhar",
    "Published: October 15, 2019",
    "As much as half of the world’s work is unpaid. And most of it is done by women.",
    "Unpaid work is not counted as part of economic activity because it is difficult to measure based on values in the marketplace.",
    "Estimates place the economic value of unpaid work between 10 and 60 percent of GDP.",
    "Reducing gender imbalances in unpaid work is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.",
    "Reducing and redistributing unpaid work is framed as an economic imperative that can raise productivity and foster stronger economies.",
    "Women do 4.4 hours of unpaid work on average around the world and men only 1.7 hours.",
    "Country examples:",
    "More than 80 percent of unpaid work hours are devoted to domestic chores aside from child and elder care.",
    "UNICEF estimates that women spend 200 million hours per day worldwide simply fetching water.",
    "According to UNESCO, 130 million school-age girls are not in school.",
    "In India, women spend more than an hour every day collecting firewood.",
    "Iceland’s parental leave policy sets the length of leave at nine months and earmarks three for each parent.",
    "By not fully engaging women, economies misallocate resources—having women do low-productivity tasks at home instead of participating in higher-productivity market activities.",
    "The economy misses exploiting complementarity between women and men in the workplace, resulting in lower productivity and economic growth.",
    "Social institutions and values can constrain the redistribution of unpaid work by preventing men from sharing the burden at home.",
    "Some unpaid work is done by choice and childrearing has societal value, but the dominance of domestic chores in unpaid work hours highlights structural constraints limiting women's market opportunities.",
    "Women may choose to stay at home or work only part-time if market wages are too low or do not represent equal pay for equal work.",
    "Cultural norms, lack of public services and infrastructure, and absence of family-friendly policies often drive unequal shares of unpaid work.",
    "Limited access to education and health care restricts women’s human capital and labor market opportunities.",
    "Insufficient infrastructure (water, sanitation, electricity, transportation) increases time spent on low-productivity domestic tasks.",
    "Improve basic infrastructure in developing economies: water supply, sanitation, electricity, and transportation to free women from low-productivity tasks.",
    "Expand internet access to enable participation in the gig economy and flexible work arrangements.",
    "Ensure access to education and health care for women and guarantee their use to build human capital.",
    "Enshrine women’s rights in law to help reshape social institutions and values that limit access to education and healthcare.",
    "Promote efficient and flexible labor markets, including active labor market policies to facilitate job matching.",
    "Encourage flexible work arrangements, which are associated with less female unpaid work and better work-life balance.",
    "Implement family-friendly policies:",
    "Private sector engagement is necessary alongside decisive government action to seize large potential gains.",
    "Mexico and Brazil: better access to electricity, water, and less expensive appliances helped boost female labor force participation.",
    "Switzerland: active labor market policies facilitate job matching and are cited as supportive of redistributing unpaid work.",
    "Pakistan: security concerns lead many families to choose not to send girls to school, illustrating non-infrastructural barriers to service use.",
    "[Kristalina Georgieva](https://www.imf.org/en/About/senior-officials/Bios/kristalina-georgieva)",
    "[Cristian Alonso](https://blogs.imf.org/bloggers/cristian-alonso/)",
    "[Era Dabla-Norris](https://blogs.imf.org/bloggers/era-dabla-norris/)",
    "[Kalpana Kochhar](https://blogs.imf.org/bloggers/kalpana-kochhar/)",
    "[عربي](https://www.imf.org/ar/News/Articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work)",
    "[中文,](https://www.imf.org/zh/News/Articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work)",
    "[日本語](http://www.imf.org/ja/News/Articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work)",
    "[Português](https://www.imf.org/pt/News/Articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work)",
    "[study](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/10/15/Reducing-and-Redistributing-Unpaid-Work-Stronger-Policies-to-Support-Gender-Equality-48688)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-map1.png](https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-map1.png)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-parental-leave-1-1.png](https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eng-oct-11-parental-leave-1-1.png)"
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  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-08-27T18:12:02.187Z"
}