ACCOUNTING FOR UNPAID CARE WORK IN BHUTAN 2019
National Commission for Women and Children P.O Box 556 Thimphu, Bhutan Phone Number: +975-2-334549/334551 Woman and Child Helpline: 1098 Fax Number: +975-2-334709 Website: www.ncwc.gov.bt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalCommissionforWomenandChildren/ Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
ACCOUNTING FOR UNPAID CARE WORK IN BHUTAN
National Commission for Women and Children Royal Government of Bhutan Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
© 2019 National Commission for Women and Children All rights reserved. Printed in Bhutan
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National Commission for Women and Children Royal Government of Bhutan PO Box No. 549 Thimphu, Bhutan Tel: +975 2 334549/334553 Woman and Child Helpline: 1098 Fax: +975 2 334709 www.ncwc.gov.bt Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan TABLE OF CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON v MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, BHRM-ADB vi FOREWORD vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii ABBREVIATIONS x EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xi 1. INTRODUCTION 2 2. MEASUREMENT AND VALUATION OF UNPAID CARE WORK 4 2.1 Measuring Unpaid Care Work 4 2.2 Valuing Unpaid Care Work 6 2.2.1 Methodology of Valuing Unpaid Care Work 6 2.2.2 Efforts to Value Unpaid Care Work 8 3. DATA AND METHODOLOGY 12 3.1 Data 12 3.2 Unpaid Care Work and Corresponding Occupation 13 3.3 Methodology 15 4. FINDINGS 17 4.1 Time Spent on Paid Work and Unpaid Care Work by Gender 17 4.2 Time Spent on Unpaid Care Work by Socio-economic Demographics 20 4.3 Corresponding Wage Rates for Unpaid Care Work Activities 24 4.4 Values of Unpaid Care Work 25 5. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 29 5.1 Improving the measurement of unpaid care 29 5.2 Overall takeaways and their relation to GNH exercise 32 5.3. Incorporating unpaid care into Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI) 33 i Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Box 1: Components of Gross National Happiness and Potential Impact of Unpaid Care 34 5.4 Recommendations for strengthening legal and policy environment 35 Box 2: Social capital: some takeaways from the focus group discussions 38 GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS 40 Appendix 1: Experts consulted 42 Appendix 2: List of participants for focus group discussions 43 Appendix Tables 43
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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Categorization of time use into various sub-groups 12 Figure 2. Methods of Valuing Unpaid Care Work 15 Figure 3. Time spent on personal care and sleep by gender (Hours per day, unconditional participation) 17 Figure 4. Time spent on major time use activities by gender in minutes per day (Unconditional participation) 18 Figure 5. Participation rate in household maintenance and management and unpaid care services by gender 18 Figure 6. Daily time spent on various unpaid household maintenance and management and care activities in minutes by gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 19 Figure 7. Participation rate in various household maintenance and management and care work by gender 20 Figure 8. Daily time devoted to unpaid and paid work by income quintile and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 21 Figure 9. Daily time devoted to unpaid household and care work by area of residence and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 21 Figure 10. Daily time devoted to unpaid household and care work by the number of people in the household and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 22
Figure 11. Daily time devoted to unpaid household work by age cohort and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 11 Figure 12. Daily time devoted to unpaid care work by age cohort and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 24 Figure 13. Daily time devoted to unpaid household and care work by employment status and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 24 Figure 14. Value of unpaid care work as a share of GDP in 2017 28
iii Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Unpaid household and care service activities and corresponding occupation 14 Table 2. Maximum hourly wage of corresponding occupations for unpaid household and care work 25 Table 3. Estimated annual value of unpaid household and care work using a specialist wage approach (Individuals 15 and older), in millions of Nu 26 Table 4. Estimated annual value of unpaid household and care work using a generalist wage approach (Individuals 15 and older) 27 Table 5. Timing of measurement and dissemination recommendations 30
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON As we enter the new era of development Looking deeper into the gender relations in and marches ahead towards graduating to performing unpaid work, specifically care the lower middle-income country from work, studies have consistently shown that the least developed country status, we feel women are more burdened with it. Double proud because have come this far with the or triple burden has been reasoned as a blessings and guidance of our farsighted key impediment to gender equality across visionary kings. We have achieved societal sectors and agencies. But what we know is wellbeing through a cautious balance that unpaid work is never accounted in any between economic development and measure of progress or national accounting social progress. One of the reasons for system. And what is not measured remains our success is the preservation of our invisible and mostly left out of policy traditional social safety net through the agenda. If these things matter in achieving system of the extended family system. In inclusive and sustainable growth, we need fact, our constitution mandates the State to focus on how we recognise, redistribute to promote conditions that are conducive and reduce such work within families and to cooperation in community life and the society at large. integrity of the extended family structure. The first step in gearing towards valuing The working members and families these activities is recognition and a better in a better situation have always taken understanding of how implicit gender on the responsibility to support their roles assigned can have a larger impact at needy relatives, particularly in terms of the societal level. Moreover, what are the the education of their children. At the strategic interventions that the state can household level, women, like in the majority provide in redistribution and reducing such of the countries across the globe, have burden? This study, “Accounting for unpaid mostly taken up domestic and unpaid care care work in Bhutan”, is a first of its kind work. However, things are changing fast undertaken in the country and provides and the family structure is shifting from the significant findings that need interventions traditional extended family to the nuclear at various time dimensions (short, medium system. Therefore, the larger question is, and long time). I assure that we will take what if such social support system declines up the recommendations of the study (which is already on the decline) and what very seriously and put measures in place to would be the cost if the government has to monitor the actions. take up the responsibility? On behalf of the National Commission v Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan for Women and Children, I would like to MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, BHRM, ADB congratulate the NCWC Secretariat and Unpaid care work is intrinsic in daily life and the overall well-being of individuals, families, and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for coming society. However, it is excluded in the System of National Accounts of the United Nations despite its economic value and significant contribution to human development. The omission of unpaid care up with this timely report. I hope, through work in the formal definition of “work” and policy discussions perpetuates imbalances in economic the findings, we can understand the gender and power relations accentuating gender inequality. division of labour more comprehensively Women across regions and regardless of culture and socioeconomic status predominantly perform and recognise the value and contribution unpaid care work. This disproportion has severe impacts on women’s self-care and their participation in public life, employment in formal sector, education, and _ skills development. To of unpaid care work which has remained address and narrow the gender gap on unpaid care work, numerous international treaties have been invisible for a long time. ratified and initiatives have been taken to recognize its economic value as well as redistribute and reduce the burden on women. The Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls also calls for actions to recognize and value unpaid domestic and household work. (Dr. Tandi Dorji) With support from the Asian Development Bank's Technical Assistance 9016 (BHU): Decentralized Coordination and Partnerships for Gender Equality Results, this report seeks to determine the Chairperson patterns of unpaid care work in Bhutan and its value in terms of monetary contribution. As the first- of-its-kind in the context of Bhutan, this report contributes to the growing literature attempting to National Commission for Women and measure the economic value of unpaid care work in the country and inform discussions about Children gender policies. This report finds that in Bhutan, women-regardless of socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and employment-spend more time on unpaid work than men. The country data forms part of global patterns that show the same trend between men and women. Women’s engagement in unpaid care work may lead to time poverty, as they are compelled to take on essential activities. Doing so tend to leave them with very little or no discretionary time for themselves. This is particularly concerning in situations where their unpaid care work impede employment opportunities in the formal sector or they work for long hours but do not earn sufficient income. I hope this report serves to further recognize the value of unpaid care work and, more importantly, support policymaking. While there still is no consensus on how to best measure and evaluate unpaid care work, data and evidences presented in this report highlight the significant socioeconomic contributions of women through their unpaid care work. It is my wish that the insights in this report will help narrow the gender gap in Bhutan through the recognition, reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work to increase women’s engagement in the formal sector and participation in public life.
Kanokpan Lao-Araya, Country Director Bhutan Resident Mission Asian Development Bank
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MESSAGEMESSAGE FROM THE FROM COUNTRY THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, BHRM,DIRECTOR, ADB BHRM-ADB TheUnpaid National care work Commission is intrinsic forin dailyWomen life and thewithin overall whichwell-being gender of individuals, equality is families, enshrined and society. However, it is excluded in the System of National Accounts of the United Nations despite Childrenits economic (NCWC) value and Secretariat significant contributionis privileged to humanparticularly development. through The articles omission on offundamental unpaid care towork take in thelead formal on this definition landmark of “work” publication, and policy rights,discussions fundamental perpetuates duties imbalances and the in principles economic and power relations accentuating gender inequality. “Accounting for unpaid care work in of state policies. The Constitution also Women across regions and regardless of culture and socioeconomic status predominantly perform Bhutan”.unpaid care The work. study This is firstdisproportion of its kind has insevere recognizes impacts theon Conventionwomen’s self on-care Elimination and their theparticipation country inthat public attempts life, employment to measure in formalthe ofsector, All education,Forms of and Discrimination _ skills development. Against To address and narrow the gender gap on unpaid care work, numerous international treaties have been valueratified of and unpaid initiatives care have work been and taken understand to recognize Women its economic (CEDAW) value as wellwhich as redistributeBhutan hasand thereduce gender the burden dynamics on women.of unpaid The care Sustainable work. Developmentratified withoutGoal 5 on anygender reservation equality and thein 1981 empowerment of women and girls also calls for actions to recognize and value unpaid domestic and Unpaidhousehold care work. work is both an important as the deemed law of the country. The aspectWith support of economic from the Asianactivity Development and a crucial Bank's TechnicalLabour andAssistance Employment 9016 (BHU): Act Decentralized 2007 and factorCoordination that contributesand Partnerships to thefor Genderwellbeing Equality the Results,National this reportEmployment seeks to Policydetermine 2013 the patterns of unpaid care work in Bhutan and its value in terms of monetary contribution. As the first- ofof- itsindividuals,-kind in the contextfamilies of and Bhutan, societies this report yet contributesprovides to for the an growing equal participationliterature attempting of men to itmeasure mostly the remains economic invisible value of andunpaid thereby care work and in thewomen country in andthe informformal discussionslabour market. about gender policies. unaccounted for in the national accounting Furthermore, gender equality and women’s system.This report findsFurthermore, that in Bhutan, the women burden-regardless of empowermentof socioeconomic has status, been educational an integral attainment, part and employment-spend more time on unpaid work than men. The country data forms part of global unpaidpatterns thatcare show work the sameis trenddisproportionally between men andof women. the country’s development agenda as broneWomen’s by engwomenagement across in unpaid the careglobe work which may leadevident to time throughpoverty, asthe they successive are compelled Five-Year to take ison aessential key impediment activities. Doing to achieving so tend togender leave themDevelopment with very little Plans or no(FYPs). discretionary The 12 timeth FYP for themselves. This is particularly concerning in situations where their unpaid care work impede equality.employment Women opportunities across in region, the formal cultures sector orhas they a dedicated work for Nationallong hours Key but Results do not Areaearn andsufficient socio-economic income. classes spend a (NKRA) 10, “Gender equality promoted, considerableI hope this report amount serves toof further their recognize time inthe valueand ofwomen unpaid careand work girls and, empowered” more importantly, and support policymaking. While there still is no consensus on how to best measure and evaluate unpaid meetingcare work, the data expectations and evidences of presented the unpaid in this genderreport highlightis mainstreamed the significant acrosssocioeconomic other carecontributions and domestic of women responsibilities through their unpaid which care work.NKRAs It is asmy well. wish that the insights in this report will help narrow the gender gap in Bhutan through the recognition, reduction, and redistribution of limitsunpaid theircare work participation to increase inwomen’s “productive” engagement However, in the formal despite sector the and guarantee participation of inequality public life. formal employment. through formal legislations and institutions,
Bhutan has made considerable efforts to unequal distribution of the unpaid care and provide equal opportunities for men and domestic work between men and women women to participate in social, political and constrains the various efforts to promote economicKanokpan Laodevelopment-Araya, Country through Director adoption equality between men and women’s ofBhutan multiple Resident legal Mission and policy Asian framework. Development The Bank participation in formal employment and Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan public sphere. Bhutanese women also 2008 provides an overarching foundation carry out a huge share of unpaid care and
vi Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan domestic work due to the existing socio- important recommendations to adopt cultural norms and practices regarding policy measures to reduce the burden of gender division of roles. This impedes unpaid care work. The study also serves women’s ability to participate in productive as an important basis for the government employment and avail other opportunities to continue existing measures like the outside of their home. Furthermore, while establishment of creches to make childcare women spend most of their time on unpaid affordable and easier and awareness care responsibilities which are crucial for the programmes to encourage equal sharing of survival of their families and communities, care and domestic responsibilities within it is hardly acknowledged and valued. the family. Therefore, this study is very timely and I am very much happy that Bhutan is one provides the much-needed information on of those few countries in the region that the gender dynamics of unpaid care work has carried out a study on unpaid care in the country. The findings highlight the work which will contribute to the growing disproportionate amount of unpaid care body of literature on unpaid care work work carried out by women and provide measurement methodology. The NCWC remains committed to taking forward the recommendations from this study in collaboration with all relevant organisations and individuals.
(Kunzang Lhamu) Director National Commission for Women and Children
MESSAGE FROM COUNTRY
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FOREWORD
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was conducted as part of ADB’s Capacity Development Technical Assistance (CDTA 9106) titled “BHUTAN: Decentralised Coordination and Partnerships for Gender Equality Results”. The report was led by Valerie Mercer-Blackman, Senior Economist, and reviewed by Lakshman Nagraj Rao (statistician) and Kathleen Farrin (economist), all from the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of ADB. The original setup was initiated by Professor Ron Miller from Columbia University and the study was conducted by Joo Yeoun Suh and Changa Dorji. The recommendations were provided by Aimee Hampel-Milagrosa and Valerie Mercer-Blackman and reviewed by the Hon’ble Commission Members of the NCWC. The report was externally peer-reviewed by Dr. Yana Rogers, a professor at Rutgers University. We would like to thank each one of you for your contributions. Without data from various sources, the study would not have been possible. Therefore, our special thanks goes to Karma Wangdi, Chief, Gross National Happiness (GNH) Division of the Centre for Bhutan Studies & GNH Studies for providing us GNH survey data and inputs for the report besides contributing to the analysis. We would also like to thank the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) for providing us detailed labour and census data and the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources for providing us detailed employment and wage data. The analysis benefited substantially from the significant participation of and contributions from those in the field and experts in the country. The study benefited from inputs from the Director General, Department of Employment and Human Resources, Resident Representative, UNDP Bhutan, as well as the Executive Director from RENEW. Appendix 1 details the experts consulted, including Members of Parliament. We would like to acknowledge all the inputs and guidance provided in preparing the report. We would also like to thank those who volunteered to be part of the Focused Group Discussions (FDG) in May 2018. We sincerely thank the participants for coming forward and sharing their views and adding value to the report. Special thanks to Francesco Tornieri, Principal Social Sector Specialist for South Asia Department, ADB, and Brenda Bautista for their inputs and Jerry Colasito for coordination. We also would like to acknowledge the contribution made by Nidup Tshering and Ngawang Tshering, Project Management Unit housed at NCWC, in terms of assisting with coordination and providing valuable inputs. viii Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
The study was commissioned and conducted by the National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC) under the coordination and guidance of Kunzang Lhamu, Director, NCWC, Ugyen Tshomo, Chief Programme Officer, Sonam Gyeltshen, Tshewang Lhamo, and Deki Yangzom, Programme Officers of the Women Division, NCWC.
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ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank BLSS Bhutan Living Standards Survey CBS Centre for Bhutan Studies DRM Day Reconstruction Methods GDP Gross Domestic Product GSP General Support Personnel ILO International Labour Organisation LFS Labour Force Survey MoLHR Ministry of Labour and Human Resources NCWC National Commission for Women and Children NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NSB National Statistics Bureau NWF National Workforce PHCB Population and Housing Census of Bhutan SDG Sustainable Development Goals SNA System of National Accounts UN United Nations
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
While unpaid care work is increasingly This study, the first of its kind undertaken recognised as critical to sustaining people’s in Bhutan, contributes to the growing body daily lives and the societies in which of scholarly literature that has attempted they live, it remains invisible to many to measure and value unpaid care work, policymakers, economists, and national encompassing other developing nations like statisticians because it falls outside the Nicaragua and El Salvador and developed conventional definitions of work. This countries like the United States and the invisibility has particular consequences for United Kingdom. While acknowledging women as it perpetuates the imbalances in that methodological consensus remains to economic and power relations that underlie be reached, this study shows that a carefully gender inequality. The Bhutanese society constructed approach can yield compelling also grapples with these issues. findings. Collectively, they demonstrate that As articulated in numerous international unpaid care work in Bhutan is significant, treaties and documents, addressing this both in terms of quantity and share disparity requires the recognition of the of the country’s GDP. They also show economic contributions of both paid and that, as in other countries, women bear a unpaid work. Accordingly, this report has disproportionate share of the burden. This two broad aims. First, it seeks to document study’s contribution to the time use literature the gender patterns of unpaid care work is also noteworthy in that it incorporates in the country and estimate its monetary data deriving from the country’s pioneering value based on data from Gross National efforts to develop GNH index as an Happiness (GNH) Survey, Labour Force alternative measure of societal wellbeing. Surveys (LFS), and Bhutan Living Standards But whether described in terms of GNH Survey (BLSS). Second, while admitting that or an expanded GDP, as this study shows, important methodological issues remain to much of society’s well-being in the country be resolved, this report demonstrates that is made possible by the enormous amount measuring and valuing unpaid care work is of unpaid care work people carry out. By not only feasible, but also necessary in light quantifying the amount and value of that of the large amount of unpaid care work work, findings from the study can be an disproportionately performed by women. important tool for policymakers’ efforts to
xi Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan advance economic development by easing quintiles. the burden disproportionately borne by • As income went up, men were less like- women. ly to spend time on unpaid household Some key findings of the study include the and care work. following: Total value of unpaid care work: Time spent on paid and unpaid work, by • Estimates based on time use survey gender: data showed that in 2017, women aged • Estimates based on time use survey 15 and older spent 310 million hours data showed that women performed 71 on unpaid household and care work, per cent of unpaid care work, 2.5 times while men aged 15 and older spent 150 more time (218 minutes) than men (87 million hours. minutes). • While the value of unpaid household • Men spend 2.5 times (147 minutes) and care work varied depending on the more time on paid work than women wage rate, the study estimates that it (57 minutes). ranged from 10 per cent to 16 per cent • About 95 per cent of women were en- of GDP. gaged in household maintenance and • Unpaid work valued on the basis of the management activities, while 61 per national minimum wage rate for semi- cent of men participated in them. skilled workers (Nu 286 per day) would • About 33 per cent of women engaged amount to 10 per cent of GDP, which in providing unpaid care services, while corresponds to Nu 16,287 million. If only 12 per cent of men did so. valued at the wage rate of GSP (Nu 9,000 per month), the total value would Time spent on unpaid care work, by socio- amount to 14 per cent of GDP (Nu economic demographics: 23,296 million). If valued at the spe- • Women spent more time on unpaid cialist wage rate, it would total 16 per household and care work than men re- cent of GDP, equivalent to Nu 25,648 gardless of income, age cohorts, resi- million. dency, the number of people in the • Women’s contribution to unpaid household, and employment status. household and care work was at least • Women in higher income quintiles two times larger than that of men. spent more time on unpaid household While women’s contribution as a share and care work than those in low income of GDP was 11 per cent, men’s con- xii Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
tribution was around 5 per cent using the specialist wage. Calculations based on the generalist wage method (semi- skilled labour wage and GSP) showed a similar pattern. The study provides policy recommendations on three fronts. First, it provides suggestions for modifications/additions to current national surveys and data which would allow a more precise measurement of unpaid care work going forward. Second, it provides recommendations for incorporating the findings into the GNH conceptualisation and unique institutional and policy framework. Finally, it contains recommendations on labour policies that could help narrow the gender gap in unpaid care work as well as maximise the rewards and acknowledge the value of such work.
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1 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan 1. INTRODUCTION Unpaid work for family members and but also by care.2 In line with this finding, friends (housework and care work) Bhutan has acknowledged the role of comprises a set of essential activities unpaid care work as a cornerstone of necessary to produce goods and services human development and wellbeing, making to sustain daily life as well as to reproduce it an important component in the country’s society for the future. Broadly, these measure of Gross National Happiness activities include cooking, cleaning, and (GNH).3 Given Bhutan’s leading role in the caring for children, the sick, and the elderly. United Nations’ call for a holistic approach Throughout the world, women remain the to development that includes happiness, primary providers of unpaid care which is the country’s incorporation of unpaid still viewed by many people as the natural care work into the measurement of GNH duty of women.1 While the implications has the potential to draw international of unpaid care work for wellbeing, gender attention to the importance of care work in equality, and women’s empowerment are promoting happiness. important, it remains statistically invisible Despite this recognition, unpaid care in to many policymakers, economists, and Bhutan is still characterised by a strong national statisticians because it falls outside gender imbalance, in part driven by the the conventional definitions of what counts country’s strong familistic orientation under as work. Therefore, it is excluded from which the primary responsibility for the conventional national income accounts care of children and the elderly is assigned (i.e., Gross Domestic Product, GDP). This to women. Moreover, women often carry a invisibility has particular consequences for double burden of taking on both paid and women as it perpetuates the imbalances in unpaid work responsibilities. Thus, women’s economic and power relations that underlie unpaid care work for their families and gender inequality. communities is a key dimension of gender Yet, unpaid care plays a fundamental role inequality and shapes the larger process of in human capabilities and development. economic development. Women’s relatively The UN Human Development Report, for greater total work burden than men’s help example, shows that human development to explain why earlier research has shown prospers not only by expanding income, that women in Bhutan score lower on schooling, health, and a clean environment, GNH than men (Asian Development Bank
2Human Development Report, UN 1999. 1 Gender, Development, and Globalization: Economics as if Peo- 3Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, 2015. ple Mattered, Beneria, Loudes, New York: Routledge, 2003. 2 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
(ADB) and Royal Government of Bhutan and the family as nationally appropriate.’7 4 (RGoB) 2014). To support the government’s efforts in As articulated in several international meeting those goals, this report documents treaties and documents, achieving gender the gender patterns of unpaid care work equality and human well-being requires the in the country and estimates the monetary recognition of economic contributions of value of unpaid care work based on the all forms of work – paid and unpaid. The data used to compute GNH collected by Organisation for Economic Cooperation the Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies and Development (OECD) argues that the (CBS), Labour Force Surveys (LFS), and documentation of unpaid care will increase Bhutan Living Standards Survey (BLSS). In understanding of who contributes to particular, this report utilises data derived human wellbeing, to what extent, and which from time use surveys, which provide type of policies are required to recognise, information on how people spend their reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work.5 time on a given day through time diary The Beijing Declaration and Platform for instruments. This study improves on the Action adopted at the UN’s Fourth World previous NCWC and ADB report (2014), Conference on Women represented a Bhutan: Gender Equality Diagnostic of Selected political milestone in this regard by pushing Sectors, by expanding the time use analysis for recognition of the full extent of women’s and estimating the economic value of work and all their contributions to national women’s work. A brief review is provided economies.6 Further, one of the targets on research on measuring and valuing of the Gender Equality goal in the UN unpaid care work, methods of estimating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the amount of time devoted to it, and is to ‘recognise and value unpaid care and imputation of its monetary value. In the domestic work through the provision of section that follows, a review of how other public services, infrastructure and social countries have utilised the measurement protection policies, and promotion of and valuation of unpaid care work is shared responsibilities within the household provided. The data and methods drawn from the GNH survey, LFS, and BLSS is
4Bhutan: Gender Equality Diagnostic of Selected Sectors, described, followed by a presentation of Asian Development Bank and Royal Government of Bhutan, the analysis and conclusions. 2014. Available at https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/ institutional-document/149350/gender-equality-diagnos- tic-bhutan.pdf 5Unpaid care work: The missing link in the analysis of gender gaps in labour outcomes, OECD Development Centre, 2014. 6Action for Equality, Development and Peace, The UN Fourth 7http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-de- World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995. velopment-goals/goal-5-gender-equality/targets.html 3 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan 2. MEASUREMENT AND VALUATION OF UNPAID CARE WORK 2.1 Measuring Unpaid Care Work Unpaid care work is a crucial aspect of the can pay a person to perform.8 She noted ‘process of social reproduction’, meaning that: the process through which individuals, [i]f an activity is of such character that it families, and society thrive. Unpaid care might be delegated to a paid worker, then work involves time and energy spent on that activity shall be deemed productive. … human wellbeing. Yet, currently there is no [H]ousehold production…consists of those consensus on a single definition of unpaid unpaid activities which are carried on, by care work. and for the members, which activities might The neoclassical economic theory defines be replaced by market goods, or paid services, work as an activity that yields no utility if circumstances such as income, market (or process benefits) and is undertaken conditions, and personal inclinations permit only to enjoy results (increased income or the service being delegated to someone outside consumption). From this viewpoint, unpaid the household group (p. 11). work is not considered work because it does According to the third-person criterion, not involve remuneration or consumption. many forms of housework, including In terms of intrinsic satisfaction, some childcare, are considered work if someone people certainly get satisfaction by caring else (a third person) could, in principle, be for children, cooking, or gardening. While hired to perform it on one’s behalf. Another some people argue that the time spent on criterion is whether an activity creates a paid work is or can be enjoyable, not all transferable benefit. By either criterion, housework and care work is enjoyable and the time devoted to unpaid care represents can often be monotonous. Therefore, the work. level of enjoyment or satisfaction is not an Time use data make it possible to measure appropriate criterion to distinguish between time devoted to unpaid care work, but such work and non-work. data also have limitations. First, because A more appropriate way to define unpaid time use surveys are primarily intended care work is to follow Margaret Reid’s ‘third- to measure explicit activities such as meal person criterion’. Margaret Reid, a pioneer preparation, house cleaning, or feeding a of research on household production in the child, they are based on activities – primary 1930s, defines work as an activity that one
8Reid, Margaret, The Economics of Household Production. New York: John Riley, 1934. 4 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan and secondary activities. The primary investigated by various studies.10 activity is a response to the question: ‘What Third, time use surveys are often conducted were you doing?’ The secondary activity is independently of other household surveys, a response to the question: ‘What else were such as those on consumer expenditures you doing during the primary activity?’ But or household wealth. As a result, efforts neither question accounts for supervisory to combine the analysis of time use and care, which can be thought of as on-call household expenditures have been quite 9 time. limited.11 The general lack of household Neither primary nor secondary activities expenditure data distorts our understanding are adequate enough to capture the time of the substitutability of time and money devoted to supervisory care because it within the household, which also relates to typically represents constraints rather economic growth and inequality in living than activities. That is, while being present standards. Therefore, the unavailability of to keep an eye on or an ear open for expenditure data for joint analysis of time dependents, the care provider’s ability to use and expenditures can deter efforts to engage in another activity is constrained. improve measurement of unpaid care work Even though infants sleep most of the time and transfers of both time and money. during the day, they wake up at random With these methodological and technical times which requires adults’ immediate limitations in mind, unpaid care work in attention. Likewise, a care provider caring this report is defined broadly to include for an infirm adult must similarly be on call. both caring for children and other Second, few time use surveys include all dependent household members such as the adult members of the household. While elderly, sick, and persons with disabilities time use surveys can be used to construct besides activities necessary to maintain approximate measures of the total value 10Varjonen, Johanna and Kristiina Aalto. 2006. ‘Household of unpaid care work, measuring the value Production and Consumption in Finland 2001 – House- hold Satellite Account.`` Statistics Finland Report. Available of unpaid care work across different types at https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/152276/ Household_production_and_consumption_in_Finland_2001. of households is difficult when data from pdf?sequence=1 and Craig, Lyn and Michael Bittman. 2008. ‘The Incremental Time Costs of Children: An Analysis of Chil- only one adult providing unpaid care dren’s Impact on Adult Time Use in Australia.’ Feminist Eco- are captured. The impact of additional nomics 14(2): 59-88. 11Gronau, Reben and Daniel S. Hamermesh. 2006. ‘Time household members on unpaid childcare is vs. Goods: The Value of Measuring Household Production not trivial and has been documented and Technologies.’ Review of Income and Wealth 52(1): 1-16 and Ironmonger, Duncan. 1989. ‘Households and the household 9Folbre, Nancy, Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of economy.’ Households Work: Productive Activities, Women and Family, 2008. Income in the Household Economy 3-17. 5 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan households, such as cooking and cleaning. country where women carry the burden The word unpaid underlines that the person of a disproportionate share of community carrying out an activity does not receive labour. Women are considered to be more remuneration for it, making it fall outside ‘available’ for tasks such as maintaining the production boundary of the System of farm roads because their unpaid care work National Accounts (SNA). The word care is not seriously considered work.13 means that the activity serves people and 2.2 Valuing Unpaid Care Work their wellbeing. The word work emphasises that the activity has a cost in terms of time 2.2.1 Methodology of Valuing Unpaid and energy.12 Care Work The total economic value of an activity The operational criteria used for recognising is equal to the amount of time spent on unpaid care work in this report is based on the activity times the ‘price’ or unit value the third-party principle, which states that if of that activity per unit of time. However, a third party can be hired to do the job on, finding the right unit value is tricky. So, the then it can be defined as unpaid care work. literature on time use provides a variety For instance, leisure is an activity that you of methods of valuing unpaid care work. cannot pay someone else to do for you. So Specifically, the value of unpaid care work it is with sleeping and eating. Such activities can be determined by an input-based or are categorised as personal activities and an output-based approach. An output- not productive activities. Following such based approach determines the cost of conceptual distinctions, two broad activities given unpaid care work in the market (for are adopted from the time use data in the instance, the cost of an hour of centre- GNH Survey – household maintenance provided daycare). It assigns a value to and management and unpaid care services the output produced by the unpaid care – as constituting unpaid care work. work by multiplying the quantity of the Although volunteering work falls under output by the price of market equivalents. unpaid care work based on the operational However, this method presents certain criteria, this type of unpaid work is conceptual difficulties when defining the excluded due to its focus on unpaid output of unpaid care work, such as care caregiving for household members. This work for children. Moreover, the output- study, nonetheless, acknowledges the based approach is limited by the difficulty importance of volunteering work in the 13Bhutan: Gender Equality Diagnostic of Selected Sectors, 12Unpaid Care Work: The missing link in the analysis of gender Asian Development Bank, 2014. Available at https://www.adb. gaps in labour outcomes, OECD Development Centre, 2004. org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/149350/gen- der-equality-diagnostic-bhutan.pdf 6 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan in finding the right data that show both a wage that would be paid to a person hired market price for quality-equivalent outputs to perform the tasks (as described earlier, and the number of goods and services the third-party criterion). Accordingly, as created by unpaid care work. opposed to opportunity cost valuation, the The input-based approach focuses on replacement cost valuation uses the same the measurement and valuation of labour market wage whether the person earns Nu inputs of unpaid care work. Other inputs 1,000 or Nu 100 per hour in his/her market such as capital and raw materials should job. also be measured, but labour is the most The range of wage rates for purchased important input. Large-scale, nationally substitutes for unpaid care work varies representative time-diary surveys offer substantially. This is especially true of good estimates of time devoted to unpaid care work. On one hand (the generalist work in a household, including childcare measure), there are low-paid workers, such and care for the elderly. Based on the third- as domestic chores workers in the market. person criterion, they value the work against On the other (the specialist measure), there market wage rates for workers performing are relatively high-wage workers such as similar activities in the labour market. nurses and teachers engaged in specialised The two most common methods used activities. A specialist approach to valuing to construct market wage rates build household production applies specific wage on estimates of opportunity cost or rates to various tasks. For instance, time replacement cost.14 Opportunity cost is per spent on preparing meals would be valued hour value of time that a person could have at a cook’s wage, and time spent on caring spent in an alternative activity if she/he had for adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s not done unpaid care work. For those who disease would be valued at a highly skilled 15 work for pay, opportunity cost may refer nurse’s wage. Since there is no consensus to forgone earnings, but some imputation on best-fit wages, a range of wages can might be required for those who do not provide a lower-bound and an upper- work for pay. While this measure accurately bound estimate. However, the difficulty reflects what an individual gives up to with both the generalist approach and engage in unpaid care work, it does not the specialist approach is that they fail to capture the benefits of the work for others. consider the efficiency and quality of time The replacement cost valuation uses the that individuals spend on housework. For instance, an inexperienced individual would 14Abraham, Katherine, and Christopher Mackie. 2005. Beyond the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States. 15Levine, Carol. 2004. Always on Call : When Illness Turns Fam- Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. ilies into Caregivers. Vanderbilt University Press. 7 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan spend far more time on tasks like painting In sum, measuring and valuing unpaid or plumbing than an experienced specialist work warrants further scrutiny. Unpaid would. Therefore, it is possible that using care work does not fall within the purview a specialist wage approach would overstate of conventional definitions of productivity, the value of unpaid care work.16 but analyses of time use data demonstrate Another concern with the replacement its extent and reality –the disproportionate cost method is quality control. What is the extent to which it is borne by women. This appropriate quality adjustment? Could a study adopts the input-based replacement- cook’s wage equate to a mother’s labour? It cost method for valuing unpaid care work is possible that the mother is a terrible cook performed using both the generalist and and the value of her labour cannot match a specialist wages to provide a lower-bound hired cook’s wage. Or, she could be a terrific and upper-bound estimate of the value of cook and the value of her labour could be unpaid care work. higher than a cook’s wage. This issue has 2.2.2 Efforts to Value Unpaid Care not been definitively resolved but a 25 per Work cent deduction in the wage of specialists Attempts to estimate the value of unpaid for some unpaid work like cooking and care work have a long history, comprising a home repairs has been suggested with key aspect of long-term efforts to improve the suggestion to pay careful attention to the official National Income and Product caregiving activities due to lack of perfect Accounts (NIPAs) as a measure of the total 17 substitutes. Some argue that the wage value of goods and services produced in should not be reduced because the skill a country. A key benchmark drawn from of a mother cooking for her child is more NIPAs is GDP, primarily based on market specialised because she knows her child’s goods and services that could ‘be brought 18 preferences and specific dietary needs. directly or indirectly into relation with the
16Abraham, Katherine, and Christopher Mackie. 2005. Beyond measuring-rod money’, as suggested by the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States. Arthur Pigou.19 As useful as this guideline Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. is, NIPA’s focus on market transactions is 17Landefeld, J. Steven, and Stephanie H. McCulla. 2000. “Ac- counting for Nonmarket Household Production within a Na- limited because it fails to include household tional Accounts Framework.” Review of Income and Wealth services that also represent productive 46 (3): 289–307 and Suh, Jooyeoun, and Nancy Folbre. 2016. work. Consequently, the importance of “Valuing Unpaid Child Care in the U.S.: A Prototype Satellite American Time Use Survey.” Review of Income and Wealth 62 Account Using the American Time Use Survey.” Review of In- come and Wealth 62 (4): 668–684. (4): 668–684. 18 Suh, Jooyeoun, and Nancy Folbre. 2016. “Valuing Unpaid 19Pigou, Aurthur. 1932. The Economics of Welfare. London: Child Care in the U.S.: A Prototype Satellite Account Using the Macmillan, p. 11. 8 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan unpaid care work has been ignored in a per cent of their time to unpaid care work large body of economic policy studies. ranging from a low of about 46 per cent At present, there is no consensus on the in Latvia to a high of about 69 per cent in methodology for measuring and valuing Italy, a finding based on the Harmonised unpaid household services. Nonetheless, European Time Use Surveys (HETUS) 22 various efforts have been made across for 15 European countries. Among non- countries and organisations to measure and European countries, OECD (2011) shows value unpaid work. This section provides that the largest gender gaps in time spent a summary of those efforts, detailing on unpaid work are mostly explained by the methodological differences among them relatively small amounts of time that men 23 and the important role that time use data devote to unpaid work. In particular, men play in all of them. in Korea, India, and Japan spend less than one hour per day on unpaid work, while Unpaid care work is quantitatively significant women in those countries spend at least and measurable using currently available four times more time. Gendered differences time use data.20 For example, studies using in time spent on unpaid care work in Sub- 2003-2010 American Time Use Survey data Saharan Africa are also large.24 For instance, show that approximately one-half of all women’s involvement in domestic and care work took place outside the market (i.e., activities is much greater than men’s: 3.1 25 per cent of the available time after time times more in Benin and 4.7 times more in for sleep, personal care, and paid work is Madagascar.25 devoted to unpaid care work).21 Numerous other national time use surveys document In theory, an attempt at valuation would the substantial magnitude of unpaid estimate the market value of both unpriced household work and the disproportionate inputs and outputs, but due to limited share of it done by women, a pattern 22Folbre, Nancy, and Jayoung Yoon. 2008. Economic Devel- common to all countries regardless of the opment and Time Devoted to Direct Unpaid Care Activities: level of development. In general, working- An Analysis of the Harmonized European Time Use Survey age women (ages 25-60) devote about 58 (HETUS). http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document. nsf/ab82a6805797760f80256b4f005da1ab/7783ff26a4dc- 0c83c12574e2002f53f3/$FILE/folbreyoonDRAFT.pdf. 20 Bianchi, Suzanne M., John P. Robinson, and Melissa A. Milk- 23 OECD. 2011. Society at a Glance 2011. https://www.oecd. ie. 2006. Changing Rhythms of American Family Life. Russell org/social/soc/47571423.pdf. 24 Sage Foundation and Folbre, Nancy. 2012. For Love and Money : Mark Blackden, C, and Quentin Wodon. 2006. Gender, Time Care Provision in the United States. Russell Sage Foundation. Use, and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. http://siteresources. 21Aguiar, M., and E. Hurst. 2007. ‘Measuring Trends in Leisure: worldbank.org/INTAFRREGTOPGENDER/Resources/gen- The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades.’The Quarterly Jour- der_time_use_pov.pdf. nal of Economics 122 (3). Oxford University Press: 969–1006. 25Ibid. 9 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan relevant data, many studies have relied on valuation of household production in the the input method excluding the output US between 1965 and 2004, they found method. Time use surveys have facilitated that non-market household services made the valuation of unpaid work via the input up 31 per cent of GDP in 1965, which method, employing either specialist or decreased to 19 per cent in 2004. This shift generalist wages. For instance, the Finland reflects the increase in US women’s labour Statistical Office, engaged in developing force participation rates from 40 per cent household satellite accounts since the in 1965 to 60 per cent in 2004. In the Latin 1990s, has estimated that for 2006, the American countries for which time use gross value of household production in survey data and replacement cost estimates Finland totalled 75 billion euros. This are available, the value of unpaid care work figure, which was calculated using the input as a percentage of GDP ranges from 23 per method applying a generalist wage (home- cent in Nicaragua (1999) to 30 per cent in helper’s wage), would have increased the El Salvador (2009) based on the generalist nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) wage approach.29 26 by 39 per cent. Limited relevant data make employing By contrast, the Hungarian Statistical Office the output-based approach to valuation has adopted specialist wages in its valuation challenging. Nonetheless, notable efforts by efforts. Using 2009-2010 Hungarian time Duncan Ironmonger and others to refine use survey data and a suitable set of specialist the output method have made it possible wage rates, the office found that including to produce output-based estimates in household production in Hungary’s 2010 some countries. Among them, the Office GDP would have increased its value by 25 for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK per cent.27 Some researchers like Landefeld has published estimates based on valuing et al. (2000; 2009) have applied both the outputs of household production for generalist and specialist wages.28 In their the years 2000, 2005, and 2014.30 ONS
26Varjonen, Johanna, and Kristiina Aalto. 2006. Household Pro- calculated that the total gross value added duction and Consumption in Finland 2001: Household Satellite of home production was 1,018.9 billion Account. https://www.stat.fi/tup/kantilinpito/2001_household_ pounds in 2014, which is equivalent to 56.1 satellite_account.pdf. 27Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 2016.Value of Domestic 29Durán, María Ángeles, and Vivian Milosavljevic. 2012. Un- Work and Household Satellite Account in Hungary. paid Work, Time Use Surveys, and Care Demand Forecasting in 28Landefeld, J. Steven, and Stephanie H. McCulla. 2000. “Ac- Latin America. www.fbbva.es. counting for Nonmarket Household Production within a Na- 30Holloway, Sue, Sandra Short, and Sarah Tamplin. 2002. tional Accounts Framework.” Review of Income and Wealth Household Satellite Account Methodology. http://www.statistics. 46(3): 289–307. Landefeld, J. Steven, Barbara M. Fraumeni, and gov.uk/hhsa/hhsa/resources/fileattachments/hhsa-ukaccount. Cindy M. Vojtech. 2009. “Accounting for Nonmarket Produc- pdf and Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom. tion: A Prototype Satellite Account Using the American Time 2016. Household Satellite Accounts: 2005 to 2014. Use Survey.” Review of Income and Wealth 55(2): 205–25. 10 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan per cent of the UK’s GDP, up from 52.5 can be enhanced by employing time-series 31 per cent in 2005. data and rich micro data sets associated with Even with conceptual and empirical barriers various time use survey data. Doing so will the output-based approach faces, the make more accurate measures of time use statistical offices of Canada, Finland, and possible, which in turn will facilitate more the UK have adopted it. But neither the US precise analyses of the economic role of nor Korea has yet followed suit. In the UK, men and women in areas ranging from Holloway et al. (2002) estimated the output consumer durables to healthcare. Alongside of childcare provided by households by the continued use of the input method, subtracting from 24 hours the time children methodological refinements to output- spent in school and in the formal care sector.32 based approaches will help improve our The output was valued at the wage of a live- understanding of the impact of economic in nanny, divided by the average number of and social policies on households of varying children. They noted that the wage of a live- structures. in nanny is lower than expected because she often receives the additional compensation of housing and food. Taking these factors into account, they showed that the value of informal childcare, measured as a share of GDP in 2000 in the UK, ranged from 19 per cent to 25 per cent. Perhaps the most useful lesson to be drawn from other countries’ efforts is that a perfect method of valuation does not exist. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods. Going forward, valuation efforts
31It is important to note that estimates resulting from output approaches can be much larger than those employing input ap- proaches because output-based approaches include the cost of raw materials, intermediate materials, capital, and equipment along with labour cost. 32Holloway, Sue, Sandra Short, and Sarah Tamplin. 2002. Household Satellite Account Methodology. http://www.statistics. gov.uk/hhsa/hhsa/resources/fileattachments/hhsa-ukaccount. pdf. 11 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan 3. DATA AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Data method (DRM) whereby the respondents Valuation using both the specialist and were asked to reconstruct the day they just generalist methods of replacement cost spent. All activities performed within 24 requires time use data on unpaid care work. hours between 4 am on the day preceding As with other studies, the primary source of the survey (diary day) and 4 am of the day data is time use surveys to understand the of the survey (interview day) were recorded activity undertaken per unit of time (such for every 10-minute time interval. The time as a day). The greatest challenge comes use activities were classified into three from measurement issues. Since the data broad time use activities, 15 major activity collected by the CBS for the GNH) Survey groups, and 89 sub-groups. The broad are the only time use data available in the groupings are 1) Work and related activities country, the time use data from the GNH 2) Non-work and related activities and 3) Survey 2015 was used for the valuation. Sleep and related activities (The last falls under the category of personal care and Time use is one of the nine domains of maintenance, a subset of Non-work and GNH forming part of the GNH index, and related activities). The time use activities comprehensive data on time use has been classification framework adopted by CBS is collected by CBS. The time use information presented in Figure 1. was collected using the day reconstruction
Figure 1: Categorisation of time use into various sub-groups
Source: GNH Survey report 2015 12 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Conducted in 2015, the GNH survey is a any kind of work or business, such as cross-sectional survey that targeted the collecting water or firewood, cow herding, population aged 15 and older. The GNH tailoring, and making mats, even for the survey sample was designed to provide households’ own consumption. However, estimates for a holistic range of indicators activities performed for preparing and under the nine domains for both urban serving meals to family members and other and rural areas, and for 20 districts. A household activities (baby-sitting, training stratified four-stage systematic random and instructing children, transporting sampling design was adopted for the household members/goods, and repairing survey. The 2015 GNH survey interviewed household durables, vehicles, or other 7,153 respondents representing a total of goods) were not considered work for the 508,390 Bhutanese people. Of the 7,153 LFS survey. respondents interviewed, 41 per cent were The LFS provides important details on men and 58 per cent, women. occupation, disability, estimated earnings, For estimating the value of unpaid unemployment, and education and training. household work and care services using Administrative data from MoLHR on the the specialist wage method, earnings data primary occupation of the respondents, compiled by the LFS was used. The LFS the length of time spent on the primary is carried out annually by the Labour occupation, the nature of the occupation, Market Information & Research Division average hours spent on the primary of the Department of Employment, the activities, and earnings from the primary Ministry of Labour and Human Resources occupation were used. The primary (MoLHR). LFS is conducted with a moving occupations of respondents have been reference period, namely one week before grouped into 242 occupational groups as the date of interview. LFS 2015 targeted a per the classification system of the ILO. nationally representative sample of 6,000 3.2 Unpaid Care Work and households, 4,500 of them in urban areas Corresponding Occupation and 1,500 in rural areas. A total of 5,835 To value unpaid care work using the respondents were interviewed. specialist wage method, time use data on The operational definition used for the household maintenance and management, LFS survey is adopted from International and providing unpaid caregiving services Labour Organisation (ILO) standards were used. For each activity identified as and the United Nations 1993 System of unpaid household work, a corresponding National Accounts where work includes occupation was identified, as shown in Table 13 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
1. For some occupations, the LFS did not occupational groups with few observations, obtain adequate observations (e.g., laundry wages of other similar occupational groups workers and dishwashers). For those were used for valuation.
Table 1: Unpaid household and care service activities and corresponding occupation Unpaid household works & care Activities Corresponding Occupation services Cooking Chefs† Dish washing Waiter Fetching water Domestic helper and cleaners Cleaning and upkeep Housekeeper Household Laundry Housekeeper maintenance and Pet care Laundrymen and dishwashers Domestic helpers and management Shopping cleaners Domestic helpers and Availing services cleaners Travel related to household Domestic helpers and maintenance management cleaners Caring children Childcare workers Teaching children Primary teachers Escorting children Childcare workers Providing unpaid Caring adults Nurses caregiving services Escorting adults Nurses Travel related to household Domestic helpers and maintenance care cleaners † – Although categorised as Chefs, the occupational group also contains people working as cooks in small hotels and restaurants.
14 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
3.3 Methodology As shown in Figure 2, input valuation replacement cost method was applied with two corresponding wages: generalist wage and specialist wage to valuate unpaid care work in this report. Figure 2. Methods of Valuing Unpaid Care Work
The monetary value of unpaid household work performed by people aged 15 years and older was computed using the following formula.
V = Annual monetary value of unpaid The daily time spent on different unpaid household work and care services household and care work activities recorded N = Sample size in minutes was first scaled up to annual figures in hours by multiplying by 365 and M = Number of unpaid household then dividing the resulting figures by 60 work and care service activities to convert to hours. Any average reported
Pi = Sampling weight to extrapolate to below for average time per activity is the whole target population unconditional average and includes people who did not participate in a particular Tij = Number of hours spent on unpaid 33 household work from the group of activity. activities j per 24-hour period scaled up To determine the specialist hourly wage to annually for the individual i rates, the data on monthly earnings of different occupational groups from the Wj = Hourly wage of the specialised occupations in group j. For valuation LFS were divided by the monthly working using the generalist wage or specialist 33 Average numbers of time use in the subsequent figures and wage. tables include people with zero minutes (unconditional partic- ipation). 15 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan hours34. For valuation based on the descriptions closely relate to the unpaid specialist wage approach, both mean and housework activities. The monthly wage of median hourly wage rates of specialised Nu 9,000 (including house rent allowance) occupational groups corresponding to the was used for determining the hourly wage unpaid household work activities were used rate by dividing by 22 (average number of (Table 1). working days) and 8 (daily working hours), Similarly, for valuation based on the which comes to 51.14 Nu/hr. generalist market cost replacement approach, the hourly wage rate of a semi-skilled occupation in the National Workforce (NWF), specifically the second lowest earner of the five categories of NWF, was used as a proxy for the minimum wage. The daily wage of Nu 286 reported for this semi-skilled NWF occupation was converted to an hourly wage rate by dividing it by 8, the daily total working hours, which comes to 35.75 Nu/hr. The wage of the semi-skilled NWF occupation was chosen for the valuation because this employment category consists of occupational groups such as sweepers and other menial labourers. An alternative wage rate using the minimum wage rate of lowest paid public servants, General Service Personnel (GSP) II, was also used. The use of the GSP wage may be more justifiable since this employment category includes occupational groups, such as messengers, wet sweepers, washermen in hospitals, and cooks or bakers in government institutes, whose job
34Since the LFS captured weekly working hours, it was scaled- up to monthly working hours by multiplying the weekly work- ing hours by four. 16 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
4. FINDINGS
4.1 Time Spent on Paid Work and Men devoted more time to paid work while Unpaid Care Work by Gender women devoted more time to unpaid work, People, in general, spent about 48 per as illustrated in Figure 4. On average, men cent of the day on personal care and spent 1 hour 25 minutes (or 85 minutes) maintenance, which includes sleeping, more on paid work compared to women. eating, physical fitness, hygiene and care, Women, by contrast, spent around 2 receiving healthcare, resting and relaxing, hours 11 minutes (or 131 minutes) more and travel related to personal care and on unpaid work, which includes both maintenance (Figure 3). The remaining care and household work. Men spent 16 time was divided among leisure, paid work, minutes and 18 minutes more respectively unpaid work, and community services. for leisure and community services. While While the time devoted to personal care women spent around 15 per cent of a day and maintenance is similar for both women on household and care work, men spent and men (11 hours 43 minutes for men only around 6 per cent of the time in a day and 11 hours 36 minutes for women), the on these activities. time they spent on paid work (i.e., activities included under SNA) and unpaid work is different.
Figure 3. Time spent on personal care and sleep by gender (hours per day, unconditional participation)
12.0
10.0
8.0 8.8 8.7 6.0
4.0
Hours per day Hours per 2.0 2.8 3.0 0.0 Women Men Personal Care Sleep
250 21717 201 200 180 143 150
100 72 57
Minutes per day per Minutes 50 38 38 15 20 0 Formal Work Leisure Household Work Care Work Community Services Women Men
12.0
10.0
8.0 8.8 8.7 6.0
4.0
Hours per day Hours per 2.0 2.8 3.0 0.0 Women Men Accounting for Unpaid PersonalCare Work Care in BhutanSleep
Figure 4. Time spent on major time use activities by gender in minutes per day (Unconditional participation)
250 217 201 200 180 143 150
100 72 57
Minutes per day per Minutes 50 38 38 15 20 0 Formal Work Leisure Household Work Care Work Community Services Women Men
Figure 5. Participation rate in household maintenance and management and unpaid care services, by
gender
12% Providing unpaid care services 33%
Men 61% Women Household maintenance and management 95%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Participation rate
The participation rate of women in 5). The participation rate for women in
household maintenance and management providing unpaid care services is almost and providing unpaid care services is also 3 times higher than that for men. This
higher compared to men.35 61 per cent of shows that household maintenance and
men participated in household maintenance management services, and provision of and management,Cooking whereas 95 per cent of unpaid care services to household members women Cleaningparticipated and upkeep in this activity (Figure are predominantly performed by women. Caring children 35Proportion of those engaged in particular activity from the population. For instance, Laundryparticipation rate of women is cal- culated by dividing theDishwashing number women engaged in particular activityTravel by related the total to women hh members population. Men Shopping 18 Women Teaching children Travel related to care Escorting children Caring adults
0 20 40 60 80 100
Minutes per day
Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Further, within household maintenance compared to men. For instance, 91 per and management and unpaid care work, the cent of women participated in cooking time spent on various activities was higher against only 43 per cent of men (Figure 7). for women in most activities. Among the In other words, 91 per cent of all women activities, both men and women spent surveyed spent at least some time during the most amount of time on cooking. the day cooking compared to only 43 per
However, women spent around 3.5 times cent of men surveyed. Three times as more time on cooking than men, as shown many women as men devoted some time 12% Providing unpaid care services in Figure 6. Women spent more than twice to dishwashing,33% cleaning and upkeep of the the amount of time spent by men in all household, laundry, and caring for children. unpaid household and care work except for Around 87 per cent (190 minutes Menof the 61% Women travelHousehold related maintenance to household and management members and total time) of household maintenance and 95% caring for adults. management, and care work (218 minutes) performed by women included cooking, Women spent not only more time0% on 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% household and care work but also had dishwashing,Participation laundry,rate cleaning and upkeep higher participation rates in both activities of the household, and caring for children.
12% Providing unpaid care services 33% Figure 6. Daily time spent on various unpaid household maintenance and management and care activities
Men in minutes, by gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
61% Women Household maintenance and management 95% Cooking Cleaning and upkeep 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Caring children Participation rate Laundry
Dishwashing
Travel related to hh members Men Shopping Women Teaching children Travel related to care
Cooking Escorting children Cleaning and upkeep Caring adults Caring children 0 20 40 60 80 100
Laundry Minutes per day
Dishwashing
Travel related to hh members Men Shopping 19 Women Teaching children Travel related to care Escorting children Caring adults
0 20 40 60 80 100
Minutes per day
Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Figure 7. Participation rate in various household maintenance and management, and care work, by gender
Teaching children 8% 5%
Caring for children 27% 6%
Laundry 32% 6%
Women Cleaning and upkeep of household 52% 20% Men
Dishwashing 56% 12%
Cooking 91% 43%
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 20% 40% 60% Participation rate
4.2 Time Spent on Unpaid Care Work for paid work. Women in the lower income by Socio-economic400 Demographics quintile spent more time on paid and less time on unpaid work compared to women The time devoted to unpaid household and 353 340 332 care work increases as the income quintile in higher income quintiles.327 300
increases300 for women while it was the In both281 rural and urban areas, women
271 252 opposite for men (Figure 249 8). Further, the devoted more than twice the amount of 238
230 200 225 220 time devoted to218 paid work decreases among time to unpaid work than men. In rural 215 36 women200 in higher income quintiles. While areas, women spent 207 minutes per day on Women 150 women day per Minutes in the first income quintile devoted unpaid work while men spent 83 minutes. Men 138 132
around 218 minutes to unpaid123 work and Urban areas saw similar disparities, with 115 111 around 271 minutes to paid work, women in women spending 240 minutes on unpaid 100 195 100 172 the third income quintile spent around 249 work and men, 95 minutes. Likewise, minutes for unpaid work and 220 minutes women living in urban areas devoted 23 perday Minutes 50 72 71 36 minutes and 9 minutes more time on unpaid 44 This can0 be explained in two different ways. First, women 35 11 23 in lower income FirstbracketsSecond are forcedThird to workFourth longer hoursFifth in FirsthouseholdSecond workThird andFourth care workFifth respectively 0 agricultural related activities,Unpaid householdespecially in andrural careareas, work thereby than their Paidrural work counterparts (Figure 9). Household work Care work Household work Care work leaving little time for unpaid household and care work, which This may be because women in rural areas Rural Urban are usually left to older members of the households. Second, devote more time to informal agricultural Women Men women in higher income brackets have the luxury to forgo paid work as their existing income may be adequate to provision for and related activities to supplement the the household. 20 200 186 182
156 157 150
96 100 74 72 64
Minutes per day per Minutes 50 44 28 15 13 16 4 9 9 0 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more Household work Care work Women Men
Teaching children 8% 5%
Caring for children 27% 6%
Laundry 32% 6%
Women Cleaning and upkeep of household 52% 20% Men
Dishwashing 56% 12%
Cooking 91% 43% Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 20% 40% 60% Figure 8. Daily time devoted to unpaid and paid workParticipation by income rate quintile and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
400 353 340 332 327 300
300 281 271 252 249 238 230 225 220 218 215
200 Women
Minutes per day per Minutes Men 138 132 123 115 111 100
0 First Second Third Fourth Fifth First Second Third Fourth Fifth Unpaid household and care work Paid work
Figure 9. Daily time devoted to unpaid household and care work by area of residence and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
200
150
100 195 172
Minutes perday Minutes 50 72 71 44 35 11 23 0 Household work Care work Household work Care work Rural Urban Women Men
21 200 186 182
156 157 150
96 100 74 72 64
Minutes per day per Minutes 50 44 28 15 13 16 4 9 9 0 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more Household work Care work Women Men
Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan family income. number of household members increased, A more in-depth analysis by household women started taking more household size shows that the time women devoted responsibilities while men devoted more to unpaid household work increased time to paid work. as the number of people living in the Although the time devoted to care work household increased. For instance, the increased as household size increased for time women devoted to unpaid household both men and women, the additional time work generally200 increased from 156 minutes devoted by men was less than 5 minutes for for one-member households to 182 each additional household member (Figure minutes150 for households with four or more 10). By comparison, the additional time members (Figure 10). On the other hand, women devoted to unpaid care work was as the100 number of household members about 20195 minutes per additional household 172 increased, men’s time devoted to unpaid member starting from two-member household perday Minutes 50 work generally decreased (96 households. Further, women devoted more 72 71 minutes for single-member households than twice the amount of44 time devoted 35 11 23 vs. 72 0minutes for four-plus member by men in households with three or more households). HouseholdThis could work be becauseCare as workthe members.Household work Care work Rural Urban Figure 10. Daily time devoted to unpaid householdWomen andMen care work by the number of people in the household and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
200 186 182
156 157 150
96 100 74 72 64
Minutes per day per Minutes 50 44 28 15 13 16 4 9 9 0 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more Household work Care work Women Men
22 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
The analysis by age indicated that women is likely because women in that age group devoted more time to unpaid household are in their prime childbearing years (Figure work regardless of age. Women in all 12). age groups devoted more than twice the The analysis also showed that women amount of time than men except for those devoted more time than men to both unpaid aged 75 and above. Women aged between household and care work irrespective of
25 and 34 devoted the highest number of their employment status. Women who 200 hours to unpaid household work (Figure are unemployed or out of the labour 11) with a gradual decrease in the amount force devoted around two hours more to 150 of time they spent on unpaid work after unpaid household work than men in the the age of 34. However, for men, the time same employment category. Even among devoted to household work was similar for 100 195 the employed, women devoted around 172 all age groups between 18 and 64 years. 90 minutes more to household work than
Minutes perday Minutes 50 The pattern of time devoted to unpaid men. As for unpaid care work, women who 72 71 44 care work was similar to that of household were out of the labour force devoted 49 35 11 23 0 work. Women in the age group of 25-34 minutes to it, which was about 30 minutes Household work Care work Household work Care work devoted the highest amount of their time more than men in the same employment Rural Urban (around one hour) to care work per day. It category (Figure 13). Women Men
Figure 11. Daily time devoted to unpaid household work by age cohort and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation) 200 186 182
156 157 250 150 200 197 194 176 174 96 150 151 155 100 134 74 72 64 100 83 79 72 73 77 72 Minutes per day per Minutes
Minutes per day per Minutes 44 62 50 50 49 54 28 15 13 16 4 9 9 - 0 15-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75 and 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more 1-mem. 2-mem. 3-mem. 4 or more older Age Household work Care work Women Men Women Men
23
60 56 50 40 41 34 36 30 26 26 22 20 19 21 20 18 15 Minutes per day per Minutes 10 11 10 6 8 - 15-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75 and older Age
Women Men
250
200 197 194 176 174 150 151 155 134 100 83 79 72 73 77 72 Minutes per day per Minutes 62 50 49 54
- 15-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75 and older Age
Accounting for Unpaid Care WorkWomen in Bhutan Men
Figure 12. Daily time devoted to unpaid care work by age cohort and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
60 56 50 40 41 34 36 30 26 26 22 20 19 21 20 18 15 Minutes per day per Minutes 10 11 10 6 8 - 15-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75 and older Age
Women Men
Figure 13. Daily time devoted to unpaid household and care work by employment status and gender (Minutes per day, unconditional participation)
250 204 194 200 162 150
100 70 72 77 49 Minutes per day per Minutes 50 31 23 18 14 18 0 Out of labor Employed Unemployed Out of labor Employed Unemployed force force Household work Care work Women Men
4.3 Corresponding Wage Rates for specialist wages assigned to a different Unpaid Care Work Activities type of unpaid household and care work 16% activities based on earning data from the The LFS provides information that makes14% 2011-2016 LFS. To estimate the value it possible to assign5% varying specialist wage 5% 10% rates to different types of unpaid house of unpaid household and care work, six 3% and care work activities. This report draws occupational categories from the 2011- 11% 10% 24 7%
Specialist wage Generalist wage (GSP) Generalist wage (semi-skilled labour) Women Men
Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
2016 LFS were used to match the activities character and quality. These hourly wage of unpaid household and care work in the rates were multiplied by the number of GNH time use data. Since occupational hours and the size of the population. codes used in the LFS were not consistent In terms of the wage rates, the simplest across years and the wage range within approach applies a generalist wage (such as the same occupational categories showed a housekeeper’s wage or minimum wage). untenable fluctuation over the period, Alternatively, a vector of specialist wage it was difficult to determine a wage rate rates (Table 2) is applied. for different occupational categories for In terms of population size, the total a specific year. Therefore, the maximum population of 15 years and older (from the wage rate for an occupational category Population and Housing Census of 2017 from 2011 to 2016 was used for estimating [PHCB]) was used to estimate the value the value (Table 2). A limitation to our of unpaid household and care work in the procedure is that the sample sizes in some country as a whole for 2017. To construct categories were very small. For instance, the the estimates of the total value of unpaid categories of dishwashers and laundrymen, work time in 2017, we assumed that the 250 which were used in 2015, had fewer than patterns of time use reported in 2015 would 204 194 three respondents in the survey. 200 apply to 2017. Those who are younger 162 4.4 Values of Unpaid Care Work than 15 years may contribute a significant 150 This report employs the replacement cost amount of time and energy to unpaid 100 care work but the threshold age of 15 and 70 72 77 approach, employing both a generalist 49 older was used since the time use survey of Minutes per day per Minutes 50 wage and a specialist wage in estimating 31 23 18 14 18 the market wages for labour of comparable GNH 2015 covered this age group only. In 0 Out of labor Employed Unemployed Out of labor Employed Unemployed Table 2. Maximum hourly wage of corresponding occupations for unpaid household and care work force force Maximum Year Corresponding Household work Care work hourly occupation 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Women Men wage Chef 54.98 38.99 54.98 Child Care Worker 41.39 15.05 41.39 40.18 32.93 Domestic Helpers 47.11 28.96 26.64 35.24 32.32 47.11 and Cleaners 16% Dishwasher and 14% 77.38 53.58 19.91 43.53 77.38 5% Laundryman 5% 10% Nurse 150.6 150.6 108.01 3% Primary Teacher 119.19 48.32 91.94 83.9 119.19 115.01
11% 10% 7% 25
Specialist wage Generalist wage (GSP) Generalist wage (semi-skilled labour) Women Men
Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
2017, there were 284,586 men and 253,142 4.4.1 Specialist Method women aged 15 and older. Based on the input-based specialist Estimates based on time use survey data approach valuation, the total estimated showed that, in 2017, women aged 15 and contribution of unpaid household and older spent about 310 million hours on care work performed by both men and unpaid household and care work while women was Nu 25,648.56 million. In men in the same age group spent about 150 unpaid household and care work, women’s million hours. From the total time spent on contribution across all categories is much unpaid work, women spent 90 per cent of it bigger compared to men’s. Of the total, on housework compared to men who spent women’s contribution accounted for about 83 per cent of their time. The gender gap 68 per cent (equal to 17,313.30 million) in time spent on household maintenance (Table 3). The gender gap in contribution and management work is more significant to the total unpaid household and care compared to time spent on unpaid care work was far greater for unpaid household work, although there is still some gaps in management and maintenance work. For terms of unpaid care work. In other words, instance, women’s contribution to these not only is the time spent on unpaid care activities (i.e., cooking, laundry, cleaning work by women and men relatively short and upkeep of house, and dishwashing) was compared to the time spent on household 2.5 times greater than men’s. A surprisingly maintenance and management work, but smaller gender gap was found in care work: there was a smaller gender gap for unpaid men’s contribution to unpaid care work was care work (29 million hours for women about 90 per cent of women’s contribution. versus 25 million hours for men).
Table 3. Estimated annual value of unpaid household and care work using a specialist wage approach (Individuals 15 and older), in millions of Nu Activities Men Women Unpaid Household Management 6,404.39 15,179.56 and Maintenance Unpaid Care Work 1,930.88 2,133.73 Total 8,335.26 17,313.30
26 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
4.4.2 Generalist method estimate. An alternative wage rate for GSP To estimate the value using the generalist was about Nu 51 per hour. wage method, two types of generalist The value of unpaid household and care wages were used: the national minimum work using this method was estimated wage rate of Nu 286 for semi-skilled at Nu 16,287.02 million based on the workers and the wage rate of Nu 9,000 per wage rate for semi-skilled workers and month for GSP (lowest level civil servants). Nu 23,296.75 million based on the wage The wage rate for semi-skilled workers was rate for GSP (Table 4). Women’s overall chosen because most of the household and contribution was twice that of men in both care activities would require some skills wage selections. Similar to results obtained to perform. The hourly wage for semi- using the specialist wage approach, men’s skilled master craftsperson came to about and women’s contributions to household Nu 36, which is lower than any wage rate management and maintenance activities in the specialist wage approach (Table 2). made up substantial proportions of their This represents a reasonable lower-bound contributions to total unpaid work.
Table 4. Estimated annual value of unpaid household and care work using a generalist wage approach (Individuals 15 and older)
Contribution (in Million) Women Men Unpaid Household Management and Wage for semi- Maintenance 9,907.24 4,442.07 skilled master Unpaid Care Work 1,029.83 907.88 craftsperson Total Unpaid Care Work 10,937.07 5,349.95 Unpaid Household Management and Wage for GSP Maintenance 14,171.19 6,353.89 (lowest level civil Unpaid Care Work 1,473.05 1,298.61 servants) Total Unpaid Care Work 15,644.25 7,652.50
27 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
In sum, the total market value of unpaid wage method (semi-skilled labour wage), household250 and care work is equivalent to women’s contribution as a share of GDP 10-16 per cent204 of 2017 GDP (or 10 per is 7 per cent and men’s contribution, 3 per 194 cent assigning200 the generalist method and 16 cent. Results using the alternative wage rate 162 per cent150 using the specialist method), which of GSP as a generalist wage also show a comes to Nu 25,648.56 million (Figure 14). similar pattern. Although attempts at the 100 Both approaches 70showed that72 women’s 77monetary valuation of unpaid household contribution is twice that of men. While and care49 work yield only approximate Minutes per day per Minutes 50 31 23 women’s contribution as a share of GDP estimates, 18the important14 point is18 that is 11 per0 cent based on the specialist wage measurement and valuation are possible. Out of labor Employed Unemployed Out of labor Employed Unemployed method, men’s forcecontribution is only around Such estimatesforce can shed more light on the 5 per cent. Similarly, basedHousehold on the work generalist otherwise hidden dimensionsCare work of GDP. Women Men Figure 14. Value of unpaid care work as a share of GDP in 2017
16% 14% 5% 5% 10%
3%
11% 10% 7%
Specialist wage Generalist wage (GSP) Generalist wage (semi-skilled labour) Women Men
28 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
5. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 250 Unpaid care work in Bhutan is prominent. that it is equitably distributed across the 204 194 The report estimates that unpaid care work population, ensure that unpaid care work 200 162 has a total value of Nu 23,509.11 million, that adds to human capital is encouraged 150 which is equivalent to 16 per cent of GDP (such as elders of families spending time if measured using a ‘specialist’ wage. It is with their children), and reduce time 100 70 72 77 equivalent to 10 per cent if a generalist poverty. In other words, it ensures that 49 Minutes per day per Minutes 50 wage is applied. Over two-thirds of the everyone has the opportunity for a minimal 31 23 18 14 18 estimated monetary value of unpaid work amount of ‘leisure time.’37 0 was performed by women and the rest by Out of labor Employed Unemployed Out of labor Employed Unemployed The recommendations cover three areas. force force men. The findings showed that although The first outlines the measurement Household work Care work women spent a disproportionate amount challenges that need to be resolved to Women Men of time on unpaid work in general, rural improve the measurement of unpaid care women spent less time on unpaid work work. The next one puts the results in the than their urban counterparts, most likely context of GNH and the current labour because rural women needed to engage in market. Finally the report puts forth four 16% farm work and other income-generating 14% types of policy recommendations: (1) activities to supplement the family income. 5% those that address the double work burden 5% 10% The time spent on unpaid work was found of women to achieve a more efficient use 3% to be increased as the number of children of their rationed time (2) put a value to 11% 10% in the household increased. unpaid work by offering incentives to men 7% High-quality care work is a social good that and women who perform unpaid work Specialist wage Generalist wage (GSP) Generalist wage (semi-skilled sustains society. However, its invisibility and (3) policies to reward activities related to labour) unequal distribution have a negative impact unpaid work, and (4) policies that attempt to Women Men on women, who bear a disproportionate change societal perceptions and behaviour
share of the burden. GDP only accounts towards unpaid services.
for the value of goods and services bought 5.1 Improving the measurement of and sold in the market, thus presenting an unpaid care incomplete picture of economic wellbeing. In addition to recognising unpaid care work The objective of this study is not necessarily as a value to society and closing the gender to eliminate unpaid care work (much of it gap in terms of the share of contribution, is absolutely necessary for the functioning it is important to emphasise the need to of society) but to set up an institutional structure that recognises its value, ensure 37Daily leisure time=24 hours -sleep time – personal care and hygiene time-paid work-unpaid work (including volunteering). 29 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan monitor the changing nature of service more quality time with the community, provision continuously and the value the elderly family members and their children. services add in general with much more Thus, the payoff to public investments in scrutiny to ensure that these are provided such infrastructure is understated when the in an effective and equitable manner. value of unpaid household and care work is The estimated value of unpaid household not explicitly factored in their costs. and care work showed that women spent a The data that this report employed to large portion of their time tending to family estimate the value of unpaid care work needs. In particular, women’s contribution include the time use survey from the to housework is far greater than care GNH survey, wage rates from LFS, and work. This prevents women who perform population size from BLSS and PHCB. a disproportionate amount of unpaid These data are of high quality and well- household and care work from availing suited to provide economy-wide estimates themselves of training and education of the value of unpaid care work. However, opportunities and from participating in they do have some limitations. Table 5 formal paid work. As such, investments identifies the measurement challenges in basic infrastructure such as electricity, the study encountered and how they gas, and plumbing could significantly might be addressed if this exercise is to improve women’s overall productivity. be institutionalised (which should be). Greater use of automation, particularly Future analysis should improve once data in rural areas, could allow them to spend limitations are addressed, particularly the less time on routine unpaid activities and short-term ones.
Table 5. Timing of Measurement and Dissemination Recommendations Timeline/ Modality Short-term Institute a system to improve the measurement of unpaid care work 1. Add new questions Add questions to typical unpaid care activities to cross- to the time-use classify with the occupations that are existent for future surveys exercises and include a direct question on supervisory care, which typically represents constraints on caregivers’ time rather than activities undertaken for dependents in the GNH surveys. Furthermore, include provisions to assess long-term attitude towards certain standard types of unpaid care work.
30 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
2. Maintain In the LFS, the wage rates for different occupations in consistency of the dataset can be improved by making the categories employment consistent across years. categories across years. 3. Significantly bolster Consider a pilot survey on wages in the services sector that data on wages can then be incorporated into the labour force survey. 4. Use international Use data from countries with similar labour market comparisons to situations to make comparisons on the value of informal crosscheck the jobs. value of informal jobs 5. Use formal or Conduct a satellite survey to gather in-depth information informal volunteer on voluntary activities and distribution of volunteering programmes to among both men and women. Two important pieces of pilot a study on information are required in data collection in addition to the distribution the activity itself: 1) why is volunteering work undertaken; of volunteering 2) who benefits from it among men and women 6. Disseminate the Disseminate the findings of this study through various findings of this means, including a national debate on the results of the report through study. This would help prioritise actions to implement the various means, findings. including the media Medium-term: 1. Conduct a The study could explore and identify how quickly reforms thorough study can be made to ensure that the laws and regulations of labour and encourage - rather than discourage -fair distribution of social protection work between men and women. Consider incorporating legislations. best practices into the Bhutanese labour regulation with respect to time. 2. Initiate pilot Initiate a pilot programme where men engage in household programmes activities and help change the mindset on traditional gender that allow men roles, thus encouraging them to share household and care to participate in work. household and care work.
31 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Long-term 1. Devise labour productivity statistics that measure the value of work in services - whether paid or unpaid – and incorporate them into the Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI). 2. Include measures of unpaid care work in the national accounts, first as a satellite account and then incorporate as part of the calculations. 3. Implement and monitor valuation of household work and care services through the review and revision of national survey questionnaires to consistently capture data on unpaid care work, including the more refined elements of household work and care services. 4. A more formal way of prioritising the unpaid care work in planning is to cross- reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are defined in terms of priority (the first being the elimination of poverty and vulnerability). The recommendations in the table will work not only provides the short-term respond to the following problems: benefit of care, but also the long- term benefit of transmitting skills and • Wage data needs to be significantly healthy habits that will increase future upscaled: using wage data to make these welfare. This adjustment would be calculations implies that the results are desirable. Therefore, consider adding sensitive to the structure of the labour a ‘human capital adjuster’ to activities market institutions. For example, if that require strong interaction across pre-school education is provided free, two people for the benefit of one (or unpaid care of pre-school children will two). Examples include teaching or be valued at a lower relative cost. Given empowering. the large informal labour market in the country, wages used for replacement • Inequality in time spent on unpaid care cost calculations may underestimate work should also be measured: Unpaid the value if compared internationally. care work exacerbates inequalities Some adjustments need to be made. in society because it prevents those who are involved in the work from • Human capital factor adjustment: participating in product paid work. some unpaid care work has more value than others (for example, unpaid care 5.2 Overall takeaways and their relation that increases the human capital of the to GNH exercise recipient, such as teaching a child to While unpaid care work adds value to read, teaching a trade to young people, society, the value is generally not measured or providing preventive therapy). Such in the system of national accounts. 32 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Moreover, the finding that women in 2017 while microenterprises contributed contribute disproportionately more than little to job creation and employment men is not unique to Bhutan. Nevertheless, growth. Colleges fall short of supplying the the implications of this report go beyond skills needed in the labour market besides the issue of gender inequality. Given the failing to improve workforce productivity high proportion of informal employment and economic competitiveness through in the country, and given the changing appropriate types and levels of skilling. nature of jobs globally, the phenomenon Youth employment can be better addressed in which services are performed at sub- if access to quality TVET and tertiary par wages, unreported wages, or are education is improved. performed free will increase in prominence 5.3. Incorporating unpaid care into in the future. It is important to put this GNHI in the overall macroeconomic context of In addition, to better focus on the time changing labour markets in the country and use survey, a less immediate consideration formulate forward-looking policies. is to incorporate unpaid care work into The service sector is most likely to become the measure of GNH. While this study is the engine of growth in the future but limited to measuring the value of unpaid there is a long way to go in improving care work, measured in ‘monetary’ terms as the value of services which are key to a share of GDP, it is an important aspect the country’s development. Although of GNH. The recommendations include: there is scope for improving agricultural • Incorporate and assign equal weight productivity, manufacturing is unlikely to to “unpaid work” in the “Time Use” take on a big role. Therefore, appropriately component in measurement of the measuring the productivity of services GNHI with the existing categories will become paramount: the overall low of work and sleep. This refined unemployment rate has masked challenges differentiation will emphasise the value of low productive employment. The labour of unpaid work to society and may lead employed in agriculture is predominantly to an increase in overall happiness levels informal and receive low wages with (or a reduction in the contribution of no fringe benefits and limited access to “Time Use” in unhappiness levels in social insurance and skill development the GNH). programmes. Bhutan Living Standards Survey 2017 showed that more than 60 per cent of workers were own-account workers
33 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Box Figure: Components of Gross National Happiness and Potential Impact of Unpaid Care
Unpaid care work has a positive effect on the ‘Living standards’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, and ‘Community Vitality’ domains of GNH. It also has a countervailing effect on other domains such as ‘Psychological wellbeing.’ ‘Psychological wellbeing’ may help a person receiving care and could also help the caregiver if it is satisfying and the work is performed by choice and not as extra work beyond a full day’s work. When women or men spend a disproportionate time on unpaid care work, they contribute to society because they raise the welfare of the elderly and children being cared for, but possibly at the cost of their own welfare, offsetting the benefit (see circles of Figure). Similarly, caring for people can also contribute positively to society through the satisfaction of the caregiver. In fact, all should be expected to give up some of their time to volunteer their services (see ‘Community Vitality’). Care has an ‘intrinsic’ value.
34 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
5.4 Recommendations for strengthening policies could be adopted as part legal and policy environment of a wider set of employment Bhutan has adopted a people-centric regulations. system of governance in line with its ● In the medium-term, consider overall development philosophy of GNH. policies that offer equal The scope of good governance includes opportunities for “Parental Leave” rule of law, responsibility, reliability and for parents engaged in non-farm predictability, openness, transparency, wage employment. This would accountability, effectiveness, cooperation include a system that safeguards (partnership), coherence, and efficiency. workers’ employment status and However, there are many early actions benefits during and after taking in the area of legislation, labour laws, parental leave. This could be part of employment opportunity reforms, regulations to make benefits more entrepreneurial development and outreach portable to reduce inequalities in that can be set into motion. While the work and pay contracts between recommendations are more general, the the public and private sectors. government can ensure that these objectives ● Strengthen legislation that makes are incorporated into the broader national vacations mandatory or enables development programmes. monetisation of accrued overtime i. Address the ‘double work burden’ of after reaching a certain threshold unpaid caregivers, particularly women (for example, more than 80 hours to achieve a more efficient use of their overtime per month is converted rationed time through legislative means. into vacation days). This objective ● Explore the possibility of can be achieved by facilitating instituting a mechanism to regulate and introducing a complaints working hours in the informal mechanism. Introduce policies sector. For example, fix maximum that allow parents to take sick days hours of overtime per worker and off from work to take care of sick limit standard working hours per family members without reducing week to 40 hours across sectors. their own sick leave. More generally, Fix minimum resting time between make use of options that allow work shifts (for example, minimum long periods of leave for the care 11 hours of resting time). Such of young or old family members, particularly for non-contract
35 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
jobs, for both men and women public and private care for children employees. In general, provide and the elderly (childcare crèches, some flexibility while ensuring that kindergarten and private care for the policies do not inadvertently act children, including children with against women’s employability. disabilities and elderly), in cases in ● Advocate for allocation of a certain which unpaid care is needed on a percentage of budget based on short- or long-term basis. the value of unpaid care work for ● Enhance access to credits for interventions to reduce the burden female-headed micro, small, and of unpaid care work. family-owned enterprises. ii. Implement interventions to reduce the ● Devise a matching system where burden of unpaid care work as well as more people can volunteer to ‘help out’ choice and flexibility for those leaving the those in their neighbourhoods or labour force temporarily and want to return. communities in temporary but ● Enhance job-matching services substantial need for help. In turn, and related training for workers the volunteers could draw on the interested in temporary ‘gig’ or ‘pool’ to receive help when they are ‘mini’ jobs. These are part-time in need of it. employment opportunities where iii. Introduce and implement policies to wages and the total number of support divorced and single parents working hours are set. ● Revise and increase the existing rate ● Create ‘one-stop-shops’ for public of compensation paid to mothers to services. This is in tie-up with enable them to meet the expenditure social protection systems and incurred on the child/children after other service provision of the divorce considering the amount of government. time, they spend on unpaid child ● In the medium-term, decentralise, care. The findings indicate that the expand coverage and digitalisation total time spent on care work by (through biometrics) of certain women amounts to 218 minutes public and social services. This per day which, if valuated, will cost should tie-up with social protection around Nu 2,133.73 million a year systems. based on the specialist method. The existing amount of compensation a ● Provide quality and affordable 36 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
woman receives from her former By and large, it is important to reiterate that husband as child support allowance both paid and unpaid work contribute to is minimal. sustainable economic progress. This can ● Prioritise social protection be illustrated by imagining a situation in programmes for divorced women, which those providing unpaid care work families with more children or for family members suddenly decide families with the elderly (e.g. to withdraw their services: it would be conditional cash transfer schemes). impossible for paid household and care services to fill the gap. Moreover, there iv. Implement interventions to address are important inter-generational benefits. perceptions and behaviour towards unpaid Not only do children benefit from care work and encourage equal participation of work, but the whole society benefits as men and women in unpaid care work children grow up to become workers ● Advocate with policymakers to and taxpayers contributing to society and recognise women’s contribution via the economy. For these reasons, more unpaid work to national GDP. sustained efforts to estimate the value ● Disseminate the study findings, of unpaid household and care work are including through school important as they contribute to yielding curriculum to change the mindset a more accurate picture of societal on the stereotypical gender division wellbeing. of roles. ● Carry out advocacy and awareness programmes through various means, including the mass media on gender equality and sharing equal responsibilities of unpaid care and domestic work. This could also help change the mindset of the public on stereotypical gender divisions of work. ● Organise social dialogues to frame collective or public-private solutions to labour market challenges.
37 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Box 2. Social capital: some takeaways from the focus group discussions
From May 28 to June 6, interviews were member money to take care of their conducted with four demographically older relatives — a suggestion transferred different groups (See Appendix 2). from Korea — was considered This was conducted in large part to get somewhat degrading and unlikely to be an essence of the family structures and socially acceptable. Moreover, with low the views of different generations and crime rates and minimal international income groups on the role of men and migration (except for temporary women in (i) work; work-life balance and construction migrant workers from (iii) care distribution of family members. India), communities are close-knit. Some observations are as follows: Consequently, community values are Many of those interviewed seem to face strong and self-reinforced. the same challenges of those in modern Volunteerism within the household societies, namely furthering their career, and in society is strongly encouraged. or making ends meet through self- There were various examples that came employment. The division of work among out from the interviews: (i) students at men and women also seemed similar to the university are expected to spend the that of an OECD economy, namely men Saturday morning cleaning their rooms still performing outside work and odd and public spaces on the campus (ii) jobs more than women, with women When some elderly persons are not with who had more demanding jobs also the family — say, because they have feeling they had the main responsibility migrated to an urban centre –others for their families. This is partly because, in the neighbourhood usually agree to once married, young couples tend to take care of them. (iii) volunteerism settle with the wife’s family, so there is a and community work are taken very stronger social obligation for the woman seriously. Everyone is expected to do it, to take care of the elders and play a more not as a legal mandate, but as a societal prominent role within the household. responsibility which then is reinforced Taking care of the family, particularly through social norms. the elderly, is very strongly ingrained The results showed that, as in other in the Bhutanese society. The idea of societies, women perform more unpaid the government paying an adult family care work than men. However, they
38 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan also showed that men perform more to some extent men — to return and live community work than women, mostly near their elders. in minor repair and maintenance. The Finally, the willingness of the Bhutanese attitude of women and men towards each society to create such a strong safety net other and towards their jobs etc. suggested through inter-generational ‘contract’ and that two issues tend to perpetuate this, caregiving for elders and children is a very despite relatively favourable attitudes, strong and positive trait which should laws and regulations: (i) the matriarchal be encouraged. Most modern societies hereditary system, which tends to tie tend to lose this very quickly although women more to the land (particularly less so in small, more homogeneous in rural areas). This could also mean countries. What comes out of surveys less opportunity for them to engage in is that policies have to ensure that these paid employment compared to men, care responsibilities are distributed fairly who are fairly mobile and (ii) the notion across families and within families. In that women are expected to stay with other words, policies should be designed or near their parents after marriage, as to maximise the time spent on ‘quality’ traditionally they have been the main care with children: reading a book, caregivers of their elderly parents. In taking to the doctor, picking them up general, younger people may move away from school etc. To the extent that from home to study but prefer to go work policies offer flexible time and can back. This is more true for women than continue to do so, this will set the stage for men. In other words, while there for a stronger and more resilient younger is no prohibition of any kind, there is generation. strong social pressure on women — and
39 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS Generalist wage approach: Used in the input-based approach, the generalist wage approach calculates the value of unpaid care work by using the average wage paid to a worker, such as a domestic helper or housekeeper. This report adopts two generalist wages: 1) the hourly wage rate of a semi-skilled occupation in the National Workforce (NWF), and 2) the minimum wage rate of lowest paid public servants, General Service Personnel (GSP) II. Input-based approach: One of the two major methods for estimating the value of unpaid care work. It focuses on measuring the amount of labour that goes into unpaid work (using time use data) and estimating its value by comparing it against market wages that paid workers receive for performing similar work. In comparing it to market wages, either the replacement cost or opportunity cost approach may be used. Opportunity cost: The per-hour value of the time that an individual could have spent on an alternative activity if she/he had not done unpaid care work. For people who work for pay, opportunity cost usually refers to earnings they forgo in order to do the unpaid work. While opportunity cost is a good measure of wages that a person gives up to do unpaid work, it is not useful for capturing the benefits that others (such as care recipients) gain from the unpaid work. Output-based approach: One of the two major valuation methods for estimating the value of unpaid care work. It focuses on how much it would cost to buy goods and services in the market that are comparable to the output of unpaid care work. This approach has two major limitations: 1) it relies on the availability of relevant data that show both a market price for quality-equivalent outputs and the quantity of goods and services created by an instance of unpaid care work; and 2) some ‘outputs’ of unpaid care work are difficult to define, as in the case of care work for children. Production boundary: A conceptual device in the Systems of National Accounts (SNA) that defines productive activities. The production boundary includes: 1) the production of all goods and services that are supplied to units other than their producers, or intended to be so supplied, including the production of goods and services used up in the process of producing such goods and services; 2) the own production of all goods that are retained by their producers for their own final consumption or gross capital formation; and 3) the own production of domestic and personal services by employing paid domestic staff.
40 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Productive activity: Based on the third-person criterion articulated by Margaret Reid, an activity is considered productive (i.e., work) if it can be delegated to someone else who is paid to perform it. This report adopts this understanding of productive activity, which is broader than the narrow conception embodied in the SNA’s production boundary. Replacement cost: Monetary amount needed to pay for a service in the market that people would otherwise perform themselves. That is, the monetary value required to hire a worker to do unpaid care work. Specialist wage approach: Used in input-based approach, the specialist wage approach separates calculations for each task as if the household had employed a specialist to do it. A list of specialist wages used in this report is shown in Table 1. Unpaid care work: The production of services produced by household members and consumed either by the household members who produced the services or by other household members, which do not involve a market transaction.
41 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan Appendix 1: Experts consulted SL Institution Person/Official 1 National Commission for Women 1. Director and Children 2. Chief Programme Officer, Women’s Division 3. Programme Officers, Women’s Division 2 National Statistics Bureau of Bhutan 1. Director 2. Chief Statistical Officer, Social Statistics Division 3 National Council of Bhutan 1. Hon. Kesang Chuki Dorjee, Eminent Member 2. Hon. Sonam Pelzom, Member of Parliament (Mongar) 3. Hon. Ugyen Namgay, Member of Parliament (Haa) 4. Hon. Tshewang Rinzin, Member of Parliament (Thimphu) 5. Hon. Lhaki Dolma, Member of Parliament (Punakha) 6. Hon. Nima, Member of Parliament (Bumthang) 4 Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies 1. Chief, GNH Division 5 UNDP Bhutan 1. Dy. Resident Representative, UNDP Bhutan 6 Ministry of Labour and Human 1. Director General, Department Resources of Employment and Human Resources 2. Research Officer, Labour Market Information and Research Division 3. Gender Focal Person 7 RENEW 1. Executive Director 2. Director, Community Outreach Department 3. Counsellor, Counselling Department 42 Accounting for Unpaid Care Work in Bhutan
Appendix 2: List of participants for focus group discussions Date Place Focus group discussions participants May 3, 2018 Thimphu Working professionals and Gender Focal Persons May 3, 2018 Thimphu Tech Park, Young professionals working in private Thimphu sector, mostly start-ups May 4, 2018 Paro College of Education, College students Paro May 7, 2018 Chamgang, Thimphu Rural residents
Appendix Tables Appendix Table 1. Population size by age cohort Male Female Age Total Number Per cent Number Per cent 15-19 34,679 50.8 33,607 49.2 68,286 20-24 41,075 54.5 34,340 45.5 75,415 25-29 42,802 54 36,478 46 79,280 30-34 35,059 53.8 30,121 46.2 65,180 35-39 29,689 53.4 25,860 46.6 55,549 40-44 22,274 53.7 19,221 46.3 41,495 45-49 18,865 53.1 16,668 46.9 35,533 50-54 15,456 52.7 13,861 47.3 29,317 55-59 12,379 51.8 11,519 48.2 23,898 60-64 10,498 50.7 10,213 49.3 20,711 65-69 7,585 51.8 7,069 48.2 14,654 70-74 5,876 51.2 5,592 48.8 11,468 75-79 3,965 50.4 3,906 49.6 7,871 80-84 2,651 49.1 2,746 50.9 5,397 85+ 1,733 47.2 1,941 52.8 3,674 Total 284,586 253,142
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Appendix Table 2. Detailed information on estimating the market value of unpaid household and care work - Female 8,102.00 1,267.72 139.86 2,014.70 2,465.43 5.45 515.12 101.09 568.19 17,313.30 499.21 970.48 114.33 377.49 22.04 150.18 Overall contribution Overall (in mil in a year lions) Male 2,650.88 228.19 54.95 1,155.75 437.96 12.05 522.36 271.01 1,071.24 8,335.26 494.71 722.30 80.81 516.57 32.40 84.09 Wage Wage per hour 54.98 47.11 47.11 47.11 77.38 47.11 47.11 47.11 47.11
41.39 119.19 41.39 150.6 150.6 47.11 Corresponding occupation Chef Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Laundrymen Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Domestic Helpers and Cleaners
Child Care Worker Primary Teacher Child Care Worker Nurse Nurse Domestic Helpers and Cleaners Female 95.69 17.47 1.93 27.77 20.69 0.08 7.1 1.39 7.83 198.66 7.83 5.29 1.79 1.63 0.1 2.07 Male 27.85 2.8 0.67 14.17 3.27 0.15 6.4 3.32 13.13 86.44 6.9 3.5 1.13 1.98 0.12 1.03 - - Activities
Cooking Dish washing water Fetching Cleaning and up ofkeep house Laundry care Pet Shopping services Availing related to Travel household manage ment Caring children children Teaching Escorting children Caring adults Escorting adults related to Travel household care - Major Time Use Activities Unpaid Household Management and Mainte nance Unpaid Care Work Total
44 ACCOUNTING FOR UNPAID CARE WORK IN BHUTAN 2019
National Commission for Women and Children P.O Box 556 Thimphu, Bhutan Phone Number: +975-2-334549/334551 Woman and Child Helpline: 1098 Fax Number: +975-2-334709 Website: www.ncwc.gov.bt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalCommissionforWomenandChildren/