Managing the Double Burden: Pregnancy and Labor‐Intensive Time Use in Rural China, Mexico, and Tanzania

Abstract

Labor-intensive work is often a way of life for women in rural areas of developing countries. However, physical exertion may result in poor health outcomes for mother and infant if continued through pregnancy. Using longitudinal data from China, Mexico and Tanzania, we examine the relationship between pregnancy and four time use outcomes, measured as hours spent in the last week on: 1) housework, 2) care giving, 3) agricultural work, and 4) self-employed or non-agricultural work outside the home. An individual fixed effects approach is adopted to overcome potential time invariant woman-level endogeneity of pregnancy status. With a few exceptions, we do not find significantly different time use patterns between pregnant and non-pregnant women. The assumption that women decrease labor intensive work in developing countries during pregnancy needs revisiting, and may have implications for both women’s livelihood programming and assistance during childbearing periods.

Seasonality, climate change, and food security during pregnancy among Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in rural Uganda: Implications for maternal-infant health

“…Climate change can exacerbate these inequities and add further burdens, such as women having to walk farther to collect water for the family during drought, in addition to their time spent working the land [ 58 ]. Similar to our results, in rural China, Mexico, and Tanzania [ 59 ] and Burkina Faso [ 22 ], women do not tend to decrease their physical labour during pregnancy, though physically intensive work is associated with negative outcomes such as maternal hypertension, miscarriage and pre-term birth [ 60 ]. Many women, like the Ugandan mothers in this study, cannot decrease their activity as a main food provider [ 22 ], and assistance from men was not guaranteed.…”

Understanding nutritional outcomes through gendered analysis of time-use patterns in semi-arid India

“…There is limited empirical evidence (Beatty et al, 2013; Chen et al, 2015; Eswaran et al, 2013; Mothersbaugh et al, 1993; Peterman et al, 2013) to test and corroborate the linkages between time use and nutritional outcomes of individuals. This could be due to lack of micro-level data on the nutritional status of women and children, and women's time use in agriculture and domestic work.…”

Validation of an Automated Wearable Camera-Based Image-Assisted Recall Method and the 24-h Recall Method for Assessing Women’s Time Allocation in a Nutritionally Vulnerable Population: The Case of Rural Uganda

“…A large proportion of reproductive work, such as childcare, is performed while simultaneously performing other tasks [27,34,35]. Rather than time spent in "productive work" displacing time spent in "reproductive work", women tend to manage their dual roles by simply working more hours [36] and/or multitasking [37][38][39]. This overlap in productive and reproductive work is differentially detrimental to measuring women's time in their dual role as caregivers and income generators.…”