Indicators
The Gender Equality Observatory publishes a set of relevant indicators to monitor progress toward gender equality and the economic, physical, and decision-making autonomy of women and girls in all their diversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Observatory's indicators are constructed from official statistical information, both that which is publicly available on official websites and that which countries provide through specific requests.
Each indicator has its own definition, links to the CEPALSTAT database, where the information can be disaggregated according to different variables to delve deeper into the metadata and sources, and links to publications that provide further analysis.
Total work time
About this Indicator
Total work time is essential for understanding gender gaps in well-being and time use. In all countries in the region with available data, the time spent on unpaid domestic and care work is significantly higher for women than for men. This burden limits women's ability to participate in the labor market on equal terms, access economic resources that would enable greater autonomy, as well as use their time for educational and personal activities, such as leisure and self-care. Meanwhile, the increase in women's participation in paid work has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in men's participation in unpaid domestic and care work. This indicator is part of the regional framework for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as a complementary indicator (SDG C-5.4), and is part of the set of prioritized indicators for monitoring the SDG in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Definition
The total work time indicator refers to the sum of the time spent by the population aged 15 and older on both paid and unpaid work. Paid work includes activities related to the production of goods or the provision of services for the market, and is calculated as the total time spent on employment, job search, and commuting to work. Unpaid work refers to activities performed without monetary compensation, mostly within the private sphere. It is measured by quantifying the time individuals spend on the production of goods for own consumption, unpaid domestic tasks, and unpaid caregiving provided for their own household, for the support of other households, or for the community. By definition, the indicator is calculated based on the population that engages in either paid or unpaid work. It is disaggregated by sex and expressed as the average number of hours worked per week. The indicator is constructed using data from national time-use surveys and modules collected in the Time Use Information Repository for Latin America and the Caribbean, covering the period from 2007 to the most recent year available. The data are not necessarily comparable across countries due to methodological differences in the data collection instruments.
Related Publications
Repository on time use in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023
The Repository on time use in Latin America and the Caribbean, created in 2007 and managed by the Gender Equality Observatory (OIG) of ECLAC, houses databases, indicators and metadata provided by the statistical offices of the countries with official measurements of time use. In order to promote comparability, the activities in the databases are harmonized to two digits based on the Classification...