7 Domestic Work and Employment in Africa: What Is the Trade-Off for Women?

One of the keys to understanding the low labor force participation rate among women and their weaker ties with the labor market is the breakdown of domes-tic work and market-related work by gender. How do inequalities in the distri-bution of domestic work aff ect the type of employment integration (informal) for women and their level of participation (number of hours worked) on the labor market?1 What are the links between inequalities in the distribution of domestic work time and employment in the informal sector? Th is chapter addresses these questions. As domestic work is not considered work in offi cial labor force indicators, activity rates are underestimated, especially for women. As defi ned by Inter-national Labour Organization (ILO) standards, the labor force participation rate covers only work associated with the production of goods and services included in the system of national accounts. Domestic work to produce services consumed by the household is not included; an individual in full-time domestic work is therefore considered “inactive. ” Th e time spent producing goods fo