| Description |
This dissertation examines the nature and consequences of gendered time poverty in northern Mozambique. Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa indicates that women are more likely to be time poor than men as they bear the double burden of productive and reproductive work in the household. This gender division of labor, dictated by social norms, constrains women's freedom, agency, and well-being. Based on fieldwork in the Nampula province of Mozambique in 2013 this dissertation examines gender differences in time poverty through both Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) set of indexes and a measure of work intensity. The analysis shows that women are both more time poor compared to men and they are more likely to experience high levels of work intensity. The investigation of the determinants of time poverty shows that women's access to economic resources, notably education and assets including land, has no bearing on women's time poverty, and gender is the main determinant of time poverty. Given women's critical role in food production and provisioning, the dissertation examines the consequences of unequal gender roles and time poverty of women for household food security and nutrition outcomes. Analysis focuses on the likely adverse effects of unforeseen events, such as illness in the family, on food security of smallholder farming households. The theoretical model and simulations of the model show that an unexpected crisis increases the demand for labor provided by the woman to which most women respond by reducing their work hours on the farm and by reducing their leisure time. The latter outcome results in deterioration of the woman's labor productivity. Overall, the household suffers a loss in farm production, which is the main source of household's food consumption. The dissertation contributes both new evidence on gendered time poverty and its consequences and a gendered model of the agricultural household that integrates role of social norms. The findings suggest that the efforts to increase agricultural productivity need not focus exclusively on agricultural aspects. The policy emphasis on reduction of women's unpaid workload in the short run along with a target to create redistribution of reproductive work in the long run would yield considerable benefits for agricultural sector. |
