Reframing the measurement of women's work in survey modules.

What is it about?

Questions in household surveys (like the DHS or LSMS) about women's work are often asked alongside education and husbands work. This frames work for the female respondent as something that relates to a career or male-stereotyped work, and if her work does not match this profile she may respond that she does not work. Women think about work as one of the many ways of getting financial resources to meet their role and responsibility within the household. Women do not necessarily think of work as a career, an extension of their education, or something similar to their husbands's work. We suggest a new module to capture women's work more accurately following the framing that women view work (role and responsibility) rather than in the context of education and husband's work.

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Why is it important?

Current estimates of women's workforce participation do not accurately capture women's work effort. This mode of measurement attempts to better reflect women's work effort.

Perspectives