Chapter 2 cover photo credits: Mark Henley / Panos Picture

39

Stemming girls’ chronic poverty: Catalysing development change by building just social institutions

Box 15: Existing evidence on gender differences in children’s time use

 

Gender-disaggregated data on children’s time use are still in a fledgling state globally. Based on fragmented evidence, however, a 

picture of girls’ relative time poverty emerges. Evidence from Mexico, for instance, shows that girls spend 175 percent more time on 

household tasks than boys (Brunnich et al., 2005). Similarly an Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) study in 2006 found that, in 

El Salvador, three times as many girls as boys undertook 28 hours or more of household chores per week; in Costa Rica, Guatemala, 

Nicaragua and Panama, at least twice as many girls as boys did so. In the case of economic activities, more boys than girls were found 

to be engaged in such work, although the measure used was one hour of economic activity for every 14 hours of household chores, 

suggesting that economic activity in the region is considerably more valued than household labour. 

In Africa, several studies have focused 

on the different opportunity costs 

of investing in girls and boys within 

households as an explanation for 

gender disparities and son preference. 

If opportunity costs are measured 

according to the lost labour to a 

household as a result of sending 

children to school, households often 

lose more by sending girls to school. In 

Tanzania, for example, the opportunity 

cost of sending 13- to 15-year-old girls 

to school is significantly higher than 

that of sending 13- to 15-year-old boys, 

for whom the cost is 25 hours of work 

per week compared with 37 hours 

per week for girls (World Bank, 1999). 

Further studies have confirmed that 

this effect is consistent across all ages 

(Mason and Khandher, in Ritchie et 

al., 2004). In Uganda, girls work 21.6 

hours per week compared with 18.8 

hours per week for boys; in Guinea, 

rural girls work 22.9 hours compared 

with boys’ 17.4 hours; and a cross-

country study of Kenya and South 

Africa showed that girls spend more 

time on household work compared 

with boys, representing a greater 

opportunity cost to households if girls 

engage in non-domestic work activities 

(in Ritchie et al., 2004).

Pörtner (2009) shows that age and 

gender often intersect in important 

ways with regard to shaping time 

use. Older girls (14 to 16 years) in 

the Philippines have more demands 

on their time than boys and younger 

girls in terms of both housework and 

market activities. 

 

Percentage of children in household chores for at least 28 hours per week, 7 to 14 years

 

                                                                                 Source: UCW (2006)

Time spent per day collecting water and firewood in minutes, boys and  

girls aged 6 to 14 for Benin and Madagascar and 7 to 14 for Ghana

 

                     Source: Charmes (2006, in Blackden and Wodon, 2006)

 

Time use in hours per week of children in the Philippines, by age 

                                                                        Source: Pörtner (2009)

Fetching Water

Collecting Firewood

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Benin (1998)

19

46

5

12

Madagascar (2001)

16

31

19

6

Ghana (1998)

38

41

29

30

Time use in hours per week of children in the Philippines, by age

School

Market

House

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

7-9 years old

36.9

33.12

9.98

5.5

6.86

7.95

10-13 years old

39.25

41.08

11.89

17.85

8.1

11.8

14-16 years old

38.08

40.47

25.36

27.53

7.64

18.84

Overall

38.3

38.82

19.17

23.04

7.74

13.99

19

46

5

12

16

31

19

6

38

41

29

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Fetching Water

Collecting Firewood

Mi

nut

es

 spe

nt

 pe

r w

ee

k

Benin (1998)

Madagascar (2001)

Ghana (1998)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

School

Market

House

Ho

ur

s p

er

 w

eek

7-9 years old

10-13 years old

14-16 years old

Overall

Percentage of children in household chores for at least 28 hours per week 7 to 14 years

Boy

Girl

Columbia

3

5

Costa Rica

1

2

Dominican Republic

10

11

Ecuador

1

1

El Salvador

1

2

Guatemala

6

19

Honduras

8

15

Nicaragua

7

14

Panama

0

1

Time spent per day collecting water and firewood in minutes, boys and girls aged 6 to 14 for Benin and Madagascar and 7 to 14 for Ghana

3

1

10

1

1

6

8

7

0

5

2

11

1

2

19

15

14

1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Per

cen

ta

ge o

f C

hi

ld

ren

Boy

Girl

Fetching Water

Collecting Firewood

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Benin (1998)

19

46

5

12

Madagascar (2001)

16

31

19

6

Ghana (1998)

38

41

29

30

Time use in hours per week of children in the Philippines, by age

School

Market

House

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

7-9 years old

36.9

33.12

9.98

5.5

6.86

7.95

10-13 years old

39.25

41.08

11.89

17.85

8.1

11.8

14-16 years old

38.08

40.47

25.36

27.53

7.64

18.84

Overall

38.3

38.82

19.17

23.04

7.74

13.99

19

46

5

12

16

31

19

6

38

41

29

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Fetching Water

Collecting Firewood

Mi

nut

es

 spe

nt

 pe

r w

ee

k

Benin (1998)

Madagascar (2001)

Ghana (1998)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

School

Market

House

Ho

ur

s p

er

 w

eek

7-9 years old

10-13 years old

14-16 years old

Overall

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