Time use poverty and gender inequality: empirical evidences from Punjab

Abstract

Time as a precious economic resource is used in a number of activities of human interest across the gender, regions, categories of industries, professional sets and income levels. Present study has focused on the estimation of time use poverty across gender and region (urban and rural) at administrative divisional levels in the Punjab province of Pakistan based on the nationwide time use survey data 2007. Findings show that time use poverty in Punjab is approximately 24 %. The rural households are more time use poor as compared with urban households. Notably, in rural areas, females are poorer as compared to males because females have to participate in home activities as well as socio-economic activities. Conversely, females in urban areas are less time use poor compared with males. Based on findings, some social and economic policies can help in devising gender equitable pattern of socio-economic development in the Punjab and may be applied to other parts of Pakistan. It is imperative to take into account the time used by females at various levels in order to highlight the importance of women. It is expected that findings of this study will be helpful in understanding the issue of time use poverty across the provinces in Pakistan and also other developing countries.