Time Use Surveys

A time-use survey records how people divide a day among activities such as paid work, cooking, caring, studying and resting. It measures women’s unpaid domestic and care work by identifying these activities separately and calculating the time spent on them, even when no money changes hands.

How activities and time are recorded

Respondents describe their activities over a specified reference day. The record connects each activity with its duration, making household work visible alongside employment, learning and leisure.

• India’s National Statistical Office used a 24-hour reference period divided into 30-minute slots in its Time Use Survey, 2019.
• Unpaid domestic services include activities such as preparing meals, cleaning the dwelling, washing clothes and shopping for household needs.
• Unpaid caregiving services include looking after children and assisting dependent adults within the household.
• Overlapping activities, such as cooking while supervising a child, require rules for recording and allocating time so that the same clock time is not simply counted twice.

How women’s unpaid workload is measured

The survey produces distinct indicators that answer different questions. Comparing them for women and men reveals both who undertakes unpaid work and how much time it requires.

• The participation rate is the percentage of people who performed an activity during the reference day; it does not mean labour force participation.
• Average time per participant measures time spent among only those who performed the activity.
• Average time per person includes everyone in the relevant population group, including those who spent no time on the activity.
• Adding time spent on employment-related activities and unpaid domestic and care services helps assess the combined workload.

What the findings reveal, and their limits

Time-use data make the gender division of labour measurable. They help explain how unpaid responsibilities can restrict women’s opportunities for paid employment, education, rest and participation in public life.

• The findings can inform care services and time-saving infrastructure, including childcare, water supply and transport, and help assess whether interventions reduce unpaid workloads.
• The survey measures time, not monetary value; valuing unpaid services requires additional assumptions about wage rates.
• Recall errors and difficulty recording simultaneous or supervisory care can affect measurement.
• Time totals alone do not fully capture the intensity, quality or emotional demands of care.