Editing Feminist economics (section)

===Unpaid work===

[[Unpaid work]] can include [[domestic work]], [[care work]], subsistence work, unpaid market labor and voluntary work.  There is no clear consensus on the definition of these categories. But broadly speaking, these kinds of work can be seen as contributing to the reproduction of society.
	
Domestic work is maintenance of the home, and is usually universally recognizable, e.g. doing the laundry. Care work is looking "after a relative or friend who needs support because of age, physical or learning disability, or illness, including mental illness;" this also includes raising children.<ref name=Carmichael>{{cite journal|last=Carmichael|first=Fiona|author2=Hulme, Claire |author3=Sheppard, Sally |author4= Connell, Gemma |title=Work-Life Imbalance: Informal Care and Paid Employment in the UK|journal=Feminist Economics|date=April 2008|volume=14|issue=2 |pages=3–35 |doi=10.1080/13545700701881005 |s2cid=70765098|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3534/}}</ref> Care work also involves "close personal or emotional interaction."<ref name=Folbre>{{cite journal|last=Folbre|first=Nancy|author-link=Nancy Folbre|title=Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy|journal=Journal of Human Development|date=July 2006|volume=7|issue=2 |pages=183–199 |doi=10.1080/14649880600768512 |s2cid=17350027}}</ref> Also included in this category is "self-care," in which leisure time and activities are included. Subsistence work is work done in order to meet basic needs, such as collecting water, but does not have market values assigned to it. Although some of these efforts "are categorized as productive activities according to the latest revision of the international [[United Nations System of National Accounts|System of National Accounts]] (SNA) ... [they] are poorly measured by most surveys."<ref name=Folbre /> Unpaid market work is "the direct contributions of unpaid family members to market work that officially belongs to another member of the household."<ref name=Philipps>{{cite journal|last=Philipps|first=Lisa|title=Silent Partners: The Role of Unpaid Market Labor in Families|journal=Feminist Economics|date=April 1, 2008|volume=14|issue=2|pages=37–57|ssrn=1483263|doi=10.1080/13545700701880981|s2cid=154507941|url=https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2212&context=scholarly_works }}</ref> Voluntary work is usually work done for non-household members, but in return for little to no remuneration.

====System of National Accounts====
Each country measures its economic output according to the System of National Accounts (SNA), sponsored mainly by the [[United Nations]] (UN), but implemented mainly by other organizations such as the [[European Commission]], the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD), and the [[World Bank]]. The SNA recognizes that unpaid work is an area of interest, but "unpaid household services are excluded from [its] production boundary."<ref name=UN>{{cite book|title=System of National Accounts, 2008|year=2009|publisher=United Nations|location=New York|isbn=978-92-1-161522-7|url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/docs/SNA2008.pdf}}</ref> Feminist economists have criticized the SNA for this exclusion, because by leaving out unpaid work, basic and necessary labor is ignored.
	
Even accounting measures intended to recognize gender disparities are criticized for ignoring unpaid work. Two such examples are the [[Gender-related Development Index]] (GDI) and the [[Gender Empowerment Measure]] (GEM), neither of which include much unpaid work.<ref name=Beteta>{{cite journal|last=Beteta|first=Hanny Cueva|title=What is missing in measures of Women's Empowerment?|journal=Journal of Human Development|date=July 2006|volume=7|issue=2|pages=221–241 |doi=10.1080/14649880600768553|s2cid=216116889 |url=https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/80807 }}</ref> So feminist economics calls for a more comprehensive index which includes participation in unpaid work.
	
In more recent years there has been increasing attention to this issue, such as recognition of unpaid work within SNA reports and a commitment by the UN to the measurement and valuation of unpaid work, emphasizing care work done by women. This goal was restated at the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.<ref name=Luxton>{{Cite journal | last = Luxton | first = Meg | title = The UN, women, and household labour: Measuring and valuing unpaid work | journal = [[Women's Studies International Forum]] | volume = 20 | issue = 3 | pages = 431–439 | doi = 10.1016/S0277-5395(97)00026-5 | date = May–June 1997 }}</ref>

====Measurement of unpaid work====
The method most widely used to measure unpaid work is gathering information on [[Time-use research|time use]], which has "been implemented by at least 20 developing countries and more are underway" as of 2006.<ref name=Folbre /> Time use measurement involves collecting data on how much time men and women spend on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis on certain activities that fall under the categories of unpaid work.

Techniques to gather this data include surveys, in-depth interviews, diaries, and participant observation.<ref name=Luxton /><ref name=Mullan>{{cite journal|last=Mullan|first=Killian|title=Valuing Parental Childcare in the United Kingdom|journal=Feminist Economics|date=July 2010|volume=16|issue=3|pages=113–139|doi=10.1080/13545701.2010.504014|s2cid=154612725}}</ref> Proponents of time use diaries believe that this method "generate[s] more detailed information and tend[s] to capture greater variation than predetermined questions."<ref name=Luxton /> However, others argue that participant observation, "where the researcher spends lengthy periods of time in households helping out and observing the labor process," generates more accurate information because the researcher can ascertain whether or not those studied are accurately reporting what activities they perform.<ref name=Luxton />

=====Accuracy=====
The first problem of measuring unpaid work is the issue of collecting accurate information. This is always a concern in research studies, but is particularly difficult when evaluating unpaid work. "Time-use surveys may reveal relatively little time devoted to unpaid direct care activities [because] the demands of subsistence production in those countries are great," and may not take into account multitasking &mdash; for example, a mother may collect wood fuel while a child is in the same location, so the child is in her care while she is performing other work.<ref name=Folbre /> Usually such indirect care should be included, as it is in many time use studies. But it is not always, and as a result some studies may undervalue the amount of certain types of unpaid work. Participant observation has been criticized for being "so time-consuming that it can only focus on small numbers of households," and thus limited in the amount of information it can be used to gather.<ref name=Luxton />

All data gathering involves difficulties with the potential inaccuracy of research subjects' reports. For instance, when "people doing domestic labor have no reason to pay close attention to the amount of time tasks take ... they [may] often underestimate time spent in familiar activities."<ref name=Luxton /> Measuring time can also be problematic because "the slowest and most inefficient workers [appear to carry] the greatest workload."<ref name=Luxton /> Time use in assessing childcare is criticized as "easily obscur[ing] gender differences in workload. Men and women may both put in the same amount of time being responsible for children but as participant observation studies have shown, many men are more likely to 'babysit' their children while doing something for themselves, such as watching TV. Men's standards of care may be limited to ensuring the children are not hurt. Dirty diapers may be ignored or deliberately left until the mother returns."<ref name=Luxton /> A paradoxical aspect of this problem is that those most burdened may not be able to participate in the studies: "It is usually those women with the heaviest work loads who choose not to participate in these studies."<ref name=Luxton /> In general, measurement of time causes "some of the most demanding aspects of unpaid work [to be unexplored] and the premise that time is an appropriate tool for measuring women's unpaid work goes unchallenged."<ref name=Luxton /> Surveys have also been criticized for lacking "depth and complexity" as questions cannot be specifically tailored to particular circumstances.<ref name=Luxton />

=====Comparability=====
A second problem is the difficulty of comparisons across cultures. "Comparisons across countries are currently hampered by differences in activity classification and nomenclature."<ref name=Folbre /> In-depth surveys may be the only way to get necessary information desired, but they make it difficult to perform cross-cultural comparisons.<ref name=Luxton /> The lack of adequate universal terminology in discussing unpaid work is an example. "Despite increasing recognition that domestic labor is work, existing vocabularies do not easily convey the new appreciations. People still tend to talk about work and home as if they were separate spheres. 'Working mothers' are usually assumed to be in the paid labor force, despite feminist assertions that 'every mother is a working mother.' There are no readily accepted terms to express different work activities or job titles. Housewife, home manager, homemaker are all problematic and none of them conveys the sense of a woman who juggles both domestic labor and paid employment."<ref name=Luxton />

=====Complexity=====
A third problem is the complexity of domestic labor and the issues of separating unpaid work categories. Time use studies now take multitasking issues into account, separating primary and secondary activities. However, not all studies do this, and even those that do may not take into account "the fact that frequently several tasks are done simultaneously, that tasks overlap, and that the boundaries between work and relationships are often unclear. How does a woman determine her primary activity when she is preparing dinner while putting the laundry away, making coffee for her spouse, having coffee and chatting with him, and attending to the children?"<ref name=Luxton /> Some activities may not even be considered work, such as playing with a child (this has been categorized as developmental care work) and so may not be included in a study's responses.<ref name=Luxton /> As mentioned above, child supervision (indirect care work) may not be construed as an activity at all, which 
"suggests that activity-based surveys should be supplemented by more stylized questions regarding care responsibilities" as otherwise such activities can be undercounted.<ref name=Folbre /> In the past, time use studies tended to measure only primary activities, and "respondents doing two or more things at once were asked to indicate which was the more important." This has been changing in more recent years.<ref name=Luxton />

====Valuation of time====
Feminist economists point out three main ways of determining the value of unpaid work: the [[opportunity cost]] method, [[replacement cost]] method, and input-output cost method.  The opportunity cost method "uses the wage a person would earn in the market" to see how much value their labor-time has.<ref name=Mullan /> This method extrapolates from the opportunity cost idea in mainstream economics.

The second method of valuation uses replacement costs.  In simple terms, this is done by measuring the amount of money a third-party would make for doing the same work if it was part of the market.  In other words, the value of a person cleaning the house in an hour is the same as the hourly wage for a maid.  Within this method there are two approaches: the first is a generalist replacement cost method, which examines if "it would be possible, for example, to take the wage of a general domestic worker who could perform a variety of tasks including childcare".<ref name=Mullan /> The second approach is the specialist replacement cost method, which aims to "distinguish between the different household tasks and choose replacements accordingly".<ref name=Mullan />

The third method is the input-output cost method.  This looks at both the costs of inputs and includes any value added by the household. "For instance, the value of time devoted to cooking a meal can be determined by asking what it could cost to purchase a similar meal (the output) in the market, then subtracting the cost of the capital goods, utilities and raw materials devoted to that meal. This remainder represents the value of the other factors of production, primarily labor."<ref name=Folbre /> These types of models try to value household output by determining monetary values for the inputs &mdash; in the dinner example, the ingredients and production of the meal &mdash; and compares those with market equivalents.<ref name=Luxton />

=====Difficulty establishing monetary levels=====
One criticism of time valuation concerns the choice of monetary levels. How should unpaid work be valued when more than one activity is being performed or more than one output is produced? Another issue concerns differences in quality between market and household products. Some feminist economists take issue with using the market system to determine values for a variety of reasons: it may lead to the conclusion that the market provides perfect substitutes for non-market work;<ref name=Folbre /> the wage produced in the market for services may not accurately reflect the actual opportunity cost of time spent in household production;<ref name=Mullan /> and the wages used in valuation methods come from industries where wages are already depressed because of gender inequalities, and so will not accurately value unpaid work.<ref name=Mullan /> A related argument is that the market "accepts existing sex/gender divisions of labor and pay inequalities as normal and unproblematic. With this basic assumption underlying their calculations, the valuations produced serve to reinforce gender inequalities rather than challenge women's subordination."<ref name=Luxton />

=====Criticisms of opportunity cost=====
Criticisms are leveled against each method of valuation.  The opportunity cost method "depends on the lost earnings of the worker so that a toilet cleaned by a lawyer has much greater value than one cleaned by a janitor", which means that the value varies too drastically.<ref name=Luxton /> There are also issues with the uniformity of this method not just across multiple individuals, but also for a single person: it "may not be uniform across the entire day or across days of the week."<ref name=Mullan /> There is also the issue of whether any enjoyment of the activity should be deducted from the opportunity cost estimate.<ref name=Mullan />

=====Difficulties with replacement cost=====
The replacement cost method also has its critics. What types of jobs should be used as substitutes? For example, should childcare activities "be calculated using the wages of daycare workers or child psychiatrists?"<ref name=Mullan /> This relates to the problem of depressed wages in female-dominated industries, and whether using such jobs as an equivalent leads to the undervaluing of unpaid work.  Some have argued that education levels ought to be comparable, for example, "the value of time that a college-educated parent spends reading aloud to a child should be ascertained by asking how much it would cost to hire a college-educated worker to do the same, not by an average housekeeper's wage."<ref name=Folbre />

=====Difficulties with input-output methods=====
Critiques against the input-output methods include the difficulty of identifying and measuring household outputs, and the issues of variation of households and these effects.<ref name=Mullan />

====Findings and economic effects of unpaid work====
In 2011, a wide-ranging study was conducted to determine the amount of unpaid household work engaged in by residents of different countries. This study, incorporating the results of time-use surveys from 26 [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]] countries, found that, in each country, the average hours spent per day on unpaid household work was between about 2 to 4 hours per day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Incorporating Estimates of Household Production of Non-Market Services Into International Comparisons of Material Well-Being|url=http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=std/doc(2011)7&doclanguage=en}}</ref> As domestic work is widely seen as "women's work", the majority of it is performed by women, even for women who also participate in the labor force. One study found that, when adding the time spent on unpaid household work to the time spent engaging in paid work, married mothers accumulate 84 hours of work per week, compared to 79 hours per week for unmarried mothers, and 72 hours per week for all fathers, whether married or not.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sirianni|first1=Carmen|last2=Negrey|first2=Cynthia|title=Working Time as Gendered Time|journal=Feminist Economics|volume=6|pages=59–76|doi=10.1080/135457000337679|date=1 January 2000|s2cid=154879132|url=http://elartu.tntu.edu.ua/handle/lib/39819 }}</ref>

Efforts to calculate the true economic value of unpaid work, which is not included in measures such as [[gross domestic product]], have shown that this value is enormous. In the United States, it has been estimated to be between 20 and 50%, meaning that the true value of unpaid work is trillions of dollars per year. For other countries, the percentage of GDP may be even higher, such as the United Kingdom, where is may be as high as 70%.<ref>{{cite web|title=Incorporating Estimates of Household Production of Non-Market Services into International Comparisons of Material Well-Being|url=http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=std/doc(2011)7&doclanguage=en}}</ref> Because this unpaid work is largely done by women and is unreported in economic indicators, it results in these contributions by women being devalued in a society.