Introduction

The well-being of societies and households depends on the daily activities performed by every person, either for monetary compensation or not (Stiglitz et al., 2007). However, many countries do not acknowledge the contribution of unpaid work to human welfare. A clear example of this is that such unpaid work does not form part of the measurement of gross domestic product (GDP), the most commonly used measure to determine the economic performance of a country and to make international comparisons. This oversight has led to the neglect and discrimination of individuals engaged in activities which have no monetary compensation. This is felt particularly acutely among women. Common perceptions and feminist perspectives hold that women's economic contribution is equal to that of men, yet they enjoy less leisure and personal time. Moreover, the contribution they do make is not recognised as it is hidden from statistical accounts and seen as less valuable as it is unpaid. Discriminatory sociocultural practices are reflected in the uneven distribution of time spent on paid and unpaid work by gender. Gender-based divisions of roles and responsibilities in most societies mean that women are much more likely than men to engage in unpaid work. Most of this unpaid work is performed in the household by women and girls, often at the cost of schooling, with no remuneration and includes activities such as cleaning clothes, cooking, serving meals, shopping, caring for children, older people or sick household members, maintaining the garden and making minor household repairs to list but a few. Even when provided outside the household, the services are often at low or no remuneration. For those employed in caring roles such as nursery or school teachers, nurses and domestic workers, wages tend to be low or stagnant.

From the perspective of female empowerment, inequalities in education, health, nutrition, access and control over resources, it is imperative to value time spent by women on unpaid work. Goldschmidt-Clermont and Pagnossin-Aligisakis (1999) have argued that the economic dimension of human labour inputs into household work is of equal importance as labour inputs into market activities. Economists have also accepted for a long time that the monetary value of final consumption gives a misleading picture of real consumption when the goods and services produced by unpaid work of household members are excluded (Nordhaus and Tobin, 1972; Kende, 1975).