Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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Time-use surveys are a useful instrument for analysing work in the light of the links between the
public and private spheres, and for studying the “social contract” governing day-to-day relations between
men and women within the home and in society. 46 This information can be a very valuable input for those
trying to formulate equitable public policies. The subject has risen to greater prominence in recent years
and the region has been making much more use of studies of this type, which have become firmly
institutionalized in Europe thanks to the Harmonised European Time Use Surveys (HETUS) designed by
the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT).
In recent years, Latin American countries have been making far more use than formerly of special
time-use surveys or modules within other surveys (Argentina, 1998; Bolivia, 2001; Brazil, 2001; Costa
Rica, 2004; Cuba, 2001; Ecuador, 2004-2005; El Salvador, 2005; Guatemala, 2000; Mexico, 1996, 1998
and 2002; Nicaragua, 1996; Panama, 2006; Uruguay, 2003). Importantly, some countries are now
planning to move beyond the experimental or pilot stage that was typical of the region three years or so
ago (Milosavljevic and Tacla, 2007) and these data-gathering instruments are gradually beginning to form
part of the official planning of national statistical institutes, which implies an increasing likelihood of
resources being obtained or allocated for surveys of this type. A good example is what has happened in
Ecuador, where time-use information has been collected since 2003 with the inclusion of four variables in
the employment and income module; since 2004, furthermore, a block of eight questions has been
incorporated permanently into the household survey conducted by the National Statistics and Census
Institute (INEC). In 2005, the first special survey was conducted for three ethnically differentiated
geographical areas, while a national time-use survey with urban, rural and provincial representation and
with a multi-ethnic and pluricultural approach is planned for the second half of 2007. 47 In Cuba, the
National Statistical Office (ONE) and the Federation of Cuban Women have been conducting national
time-use surveys in a staged approach, with regular updating. These have revealed that, for all the efforts
made by the government, women still spend twice as many hours as men on housework, childcare and
family health care. 48 No special time-use surveys have been conducted in the Caribbean as yet, but some
interesting information has been obtained by analysing the latest censuses from the Cayman Islands
(1999) and Dominica (2001) (ECLAC, 2007d).
Time-use studies are also carried out in academic circles (in Uruguay, for example) and by
NGOs. An interesting initiative has been conducted by Red Thread, a women’s organization in Guyana,
which researched the activities of Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese women during a typical day,
linking their workload (an average of 14 to 18 hours a day) with the conditions they live in, with limited
household access to electricity and water. In other words, social infrastructure and human settlement
policies were related to the amount and intensiveness of unpaid domestic work.
46
47
48
The field of application of time-use surveys extends far beyond domestic work. They can be used for town
planning, analysis of tourism and the use of leisure time, and school management, among other purposes.
Report presented by the National Women’s Council (CONAMU) at the subregional preparatory meeting for
South America for the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean,
Santiago, Chile, May 2007.
Communication from the representative of the Government of Cuba during the virtual forum in preparation for
the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, January
2007.