Time poverty in Egypt and Tunisia: is there a gender gap?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender differences in time poverty in two Middle East North African (MENA) countries, particularly Egypt and Tunisia, as well as examining its determinants across gender. Design/methodology/approach To this end, the authors make use of data provided by the Labor Market Panel Survey (LMPS) in Egypt (2012) and in Tunisia (2014) to estimate probit regressions to identify various determinants that explain time poverty. Findings The empirical findings show that the probability of time poverty, in both countries, is lower for women compared to men. In addition, the determinants of time poverty (individual, household and community variables) and their marginal effects differ across gender. Originality/value Research on the gender inequalities in time poverty and its determinants has been very limited. Additionally, the relationships between individuals’ time use and the conditions under which this might represent time poverty have not been fully studied in the literature. Moreover, most of the available studies have focused on developed countries; while studies tackling this issue in developing countries are very few. For the MENA region, in particular, this topic is totally missing in the available literature.

Time poverty and gender in urban sub‐Saharan Africa: Long working days and long commutes in Ghana's Greater Accra Metropolitan Area

“…Using data from Ghana Living Standards Surveys, both Naynzu (2017) and Orkoh et al (2020) find higher rates of time poverty among women. There are also some studies that find that men are more time poor, for example, Lawson (2008) in Ezzat and Nazier (2019) in Egypt and Tunisia. These differences point to the importance of country context.…”