Patterns of time use in Tanzania: how to make public investment in ...

households compared with 17 percent in male headed households). But the
differences between the two types of households are small.
Table 4.2.4 Participation rate, mean time among participants and mean time
among population by sex and headship
Adult females Adult males
Female Head Male Head Female Head Male Head
Percentage (%)
Participation rate 36.4 40.1 20.9 16.6
Absolute minutes per day
Mean among participants 22.4 22.5 27.2 29.1
Mean among population 8.2 9.0 5.7 4.8
Source: Calculations from the 2006 Tanzania TUS
Does the presence of young children matter?
The presence of children younger than 7 years seems to increase the average
time spent by men (32 minutes a day compared to 24 minutes in households
without young children), but not their participation rates. As for women, both
their participation rates and the duration of their task are slight higher when
young children are present.
Table 4.2.5: Participation rate, mean time among participants and mean time
among population by sex and presence of children in the household
Adult females Adult males
Presence of children No children Presence of children No children
18
Percentage (%)
Participation rate 40.4 36.2 16.1 18.7
Absolute minutes per day
Mean among participants 23.4 20.7 32.1 24.2
Mean among population 9.4 7.5 5.2 4.5
Source: Calculations from the 2006 Tanzania TUS
Children’s contribution to fuel collection
About 25 percent of girls and 18 percent of boys collect fuel. This compares
with 39 percent and 17 percent respectively for adult women and men. There
seems to be no difference in participation rates between adult men and young
males. Children’s participation in water collection was 72 percent and 60
percent, for girls and boys respectively. Evidently, many more children are
involved in collecting water than in collecting firewood. Their average daily
time spent fetching wood is about 20 minutes.