Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

Table 15.1 Employment and cash earnings of currently married women and men
Percentage of currently married women and men age 15-49 who were employed at any time in the past 12 months and the
percent distribution of currently married women and men employed in the past 12 months by type of earnings, according to
age, Timor-Leste 2009-10
Age
Among currently
married respondents:
Percentage
employed
Number of
respondents
204 | Women’s Empowerment and Demographic and Health Outcomes
Percent distribution of currently married respondents
employed in the past 12 months, by type of earnings
Cash
only
Cash and
in-kind
WOMEN
In-kind
only
Not
paid Missing Total
Number of
respondents
15-19 30.1 243 5.6 1.3 2.1 90.9 0.0 100.0 73
20-24 31.1 1,100 16.9 1.3 0.4 81.5 0.0 100.0 342
25-29 36.5 1,516 21.4 1.2 1.6 75.4 0.4 100.0 553
30-34 42.4 1,362 22.9 0.5 0.8 75.8 0.0 100.0 578
35-39 47.4 1,514 19.7 0.7 1.2 78.4 0.0 100.0 718
40-44 54.4 1,211 16.7 0.7 1.2 81.5 0.0 100.0 659
45-49 55.7 960 14.8 0.8 0.7 83.7 0.0 100.0 535
Total 15-49 43.7 7,906 18.6 0.8 1.1 79.5 0.1 100.0 3,458
MEN
15-19 * 4 * * * * * * 4
20-24 98.5 125 24.5 0.4 0.8 74.3 0.0 100.0 123
25-29 97.8 359 38.9 0.2 0.8 60.2 0.0 100.0 351
30-34 97.5 368 38.6 0.5 0.8 60.1 0.0 100.0 358
35-39 96.7 492 34.7 0.8 1.1 63.3 0.2 100.0 476
40-44 97.7 433 33.4 0.5 1.2 64.8 0.0 100.0 424
45-49 96.8 378 24.9 0.9 0.5 73.6 0.0 100.0 366
Total 15-49 97.3 2,158 33.4 0.6 0.9 65.0 0.0 100.0 2,101
Note: Total includes 4 men age 15-19 not shown separately.
Table 15.1 also shows that nearly all men age 15-49 were involved in some type of work in
the 12 months preceding the survey. Men are more likely to receive cash for their work than women.
About one in three men (33 percent) receive cash only for their work, less than 1 percent receive cash
and payment in-kind, less than 1 percent are paid in-kind only, and 65 percent do not receive any
payment for their work. This is again because a large proportion of men are involved in agricultural
work and self-employed. Payment in-kind is not common in Timor-Leste.
15.2 CONTROL OVER AND RELATIVE MAGNITUDE OF WOMEN’S EARNINGS
In addition to having access to income, women need to be able to have control over their
earnings in order to be empowered. As a means to assess this, currently married women who earned
cash for their work in the 12 months preceding the survey were asked who the main decisionmaker is
with regard to the use of their earnings. Women’s perception on the magnitude of their earnings
relative to those of their husband is also explored as another measure of their empowerment.
Those data are presented in Table 15.2.1. More than one-third (36 percent) of currently
married women who receive cash earnings report that they alone decide how their earnings are used,
while more than half (58 percent) say that they decide jointly with their husband. Only 6 percent of
women report that their husband alone decides how their earnings will be used. The proportion of
currently married women who say that they decide by themselves how their earnings are used tripled
from 12 percent in 2003 to the current level of 36 percent. On the other hand, the percentage of
currently married women who say that they jointly decide with their husband decreased from 79
percent in the 2003 DHS to 58 percent in 2009-10, and those reporting that only husbands decide also
decreased (8 percent and 6 percent, respectively).