Symposium on Gender Gaps in National Transfer Accounts and National Time Transfer Accounts

Researchers, representatives from international organizations, members of the government of Colombia, media, students, and other interested parties met in Bogotá, Colombia on February 28, 2018 to share results from NTA and CWW researchers and learn about the challenges and concerns of various stakeholders around issues of inequality and transfers of money and time.

The event was organized by the CWW Colombia team including Dr. B. Piedad Urdinola, of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Bogotá, and Dr. Jorge A. Tovar of the Universidad de los Andes-Bogotá, and featured their research on Colombia as well as cross-country comparative work from other CWW researchers, and personnel of the United Nations, and of Colombian universities and government representatives.

The event was sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund, the Departamento Nacional de Planeación of Colombia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad los Andes, National Transfers Accounts, and Counting Women’s Work.

Click the links below to access video of the presentation and discussions:

• Introductions and Background

• Speakers

Presentation slides for each speaker can be accessed below:

• Alejandra Corchuelo (download)

• Paulo Saad (download)

• Pablo Salazar (download)

• Gretchen Donehower (download)

• B. Piedad Urdinola (download)

• Marisa Bucheli (download)

• Meritxell Sole Juves (download)

Public interest in CWW Costa Rica research

The University of Costa Rica TV Program "Espectro" interviewed CWW Costa Rica team leader Pamela Jiménez Fontana about unpaid work in Costa Rica and other topics covered by National Transfer Accounts and National Time Transfer Accounts. The video also includes a discussion with the Minister of Women's Affairs.

CWW/NTA Research Wins Conference Poster Award at IUSSP 2017

Tanja Istenic of the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, and Gretchen Donehower of UC Berkeley Department of Demography with the winning poster of Day 4.

"Is it men or women who pay for the kids? The gendered division in the contributions to childbearing and implications for fertility" was a poster that showcased CWW research methods and their ability to bring new insights by combining the economies of the market and the household. The poster was authored by Lili Vargha of the Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, Gretchen Donehower of UC Berkeley and Tanja Istenic of the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics. It was presented at the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population’s (IUSSP) 28th international conference, held in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 29 to November 4, 2017.

It was awarded the Best Poster Prize for Day 4.

Policy Forum on Counting Women's Work in Vietnam

Unpaid care and domestic work are vital for people’s well-being and the functioning of the market economy. Globally, the burden of combining productive and reproductive work has negative consequences on women’s lives, including limiting economic opportunities and power within households. Since these activities are ignored in the System of National Accounts and measures of total production such as GDP, no economic value is attached to unpaid household services despite their tremendous contribution to the economy and society.

One of the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 5 is to “recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibilities within the household and the family as nationally appropriate”. Vietnam’s National Strategy for Gender Equality 2011-2020 includes a target to reduce women’s time involvement in household duties under its objective to ensure gender equality in family life.

As part of the Counting Women’s Work (CWW) research, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Vietnam’s research team is engaging with this issue. The CWW research in Vietnam has been carried out by the the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs. The findings and policy recommendations emanating from this research were discussed with a variety of stakeholders at a workshop held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 23 May 2017.

IDRC report on forum IDRC report on forum

PI Donehower’s presentation slides

Colombia CWW Results in "The Economics of Caring and Public Policy"

Piedad Urdinola discussed results from the Colombia CWW research at a seminar entitled "The economics of caring and public policy" in Bogotá on 16 November 2016. In support of many of the ideas discussed in the seminar, Piedad provided evidence of the large part that caring plays in the lives of ordinary people and how, in the Colombian context, it is linked with gender differences in the educational system and labour market segregation.

The main goal of the seminar was to gather information from experts, policy makers and academics to develop a plan for a national policy on caring.

The programme for the event can be downloaded here.

Counting Women's Work at 38th International Association for Time Use Research Conference

The Counting Women's Work project presented a special session at the 38th International Association of Time Use Research (IATUR) Conference, hosted in Seoul, South Korea, from 19 to 22 July 2016. The session was well received and provided a useful opportunity to engage more closely with the time-use research community.

The following presentations were made:

• Gretchen Donehower: Age and Gender in Time Use-Based Estimates of the Care Economy and Household Production

• Morne Oosthuizen: Counting Women's Work in South Africa

• Eugenia Amporfu: Measuring the Distribution of Housework among Men and Women in Ghana

• Lili Vargha: Household production and consumption over the lifecycle in Europe

• Estela Rivero: Intergenerational time transfers and time use in Mexico. A 2002-2014 comparison