An Analysis of Gender Differences in Intra-household Time Allocation of Rural Farm Families in Sri Lanka

Households are the locus of much economic decision-making. Of the resources endowed by the household, the time resource plays a crucial role in determining wellbeing of the individual members of the household. The objectives of this study were to describe the gender differences in time allocation within the rural households, and to find out the determinants of the time allocations for nonpaid activities. The rules regarding allocation of resources within the household were captured using collective model. It was hypothesized that each spouse makes decisions within his or her own sphere and responds to the other's decisions by altering their own level of voluntary contribution to shared goods. An empirical model was specified, treating hours spent on nonpaid work by each spouse as the dependent variable and individual, household characteristics, and partner’s time allocation as independent variables. They were estimated simultaneously using the two-stage least square (2SLS) technique. Data were extracted from the baseline survey carried out among rural households in Udukumbara village in Kandy district. The results reveal that husbands allocate more hours to both paid and nonpaid work and fewer hours to care work than the wives. According to 2SLS estimation results, total land extent and education level have significant positive and negative effects, respectively on nonpaid work hours of both spouses. The presence of other adults in the household has a negative and significant effect on wives’ nonpaid working hour. Interestingly, the results indicate that nonpaid work hours of one spouse have a significant negative effect on the other’s nonpaid work, indicating the members jointly make time allocation decisions.