To count or not to count: Increasing the visibility of household labour in national accounting

Abstract

By linking the value of work exclusively to its monetary market value, concepts of production in conventional economics eclipse reproductive and productive activities in the household and the informal sectors of the economy. The systematic gender bias of national accounting frameworks enforces the invisibility and downgrading of the contribution of women to national economies the world over. Norway was the only industrialized democracy that incorporated the value of domestic labour in national accounts for a short period after the Second World War. The article examines the contribution of experts (statisticians and economists), politicians and women's organizations in the development of national accounting and current attempts towards expanding their scope by imputing the value of household labour. It is argued that political re-orientation and commitment to strategies for empowering women and pressure from women's organizations have played, and will continue to play, a major role in challenging conventional notions of the distinction between production and reproduction, the formal and informal economy and definitions of the nature and value of work. Apart from redressing biases in economic and political perceptions of women's and men's roles in the economy as a whole, incorporating the value of domestic labour in national accounts could serve to enhance understanding of the interdependencies between the market and household economies, between social groups and contribute towards expanding the information-base of public policy-making. The negative consequences of including domestic work in national accounts, notably politicization of the private sphere, are also discussed.