Planning intentional learning initiatives to measure time-use impacts is crucial for development projects that might unintentionally burden program participants with additional time-use constraints. For example, equipping participants with labor-intensive technologies can elongate their working hours. Time-use data can show us how much time individuals devote to productive or reproductive tasks, including childcare, domestic chores and leisure. Understanding this data allows programs to make decisions that do not overwhelm or create additional burdens for participants. Additionally, time-use data helps us understand gender norms and roles or how men and women spend their time differently during the day. It also helps programs understand the unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work and its effects on intrahousehold power dynamics and decision-making.

Research has shown that although there has been an increase in female participation in the paid workforce, women are still responsible for more unpaid work and domestic chores, in addition to their paid work responsibilities. This "double duty" for women who decide to enter the workforce can leave them with limited or no discretionary time, also known as time poverty. Across the globe, women do three times as much domestic and unpaid care work as men — although this varies by country, with larger inequities in developing countries. According to global time-use surveys, females work more hours than men when unpaid and paid work are combined.

This case study focuses on two Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) projects, where different methods were used to measure and compare time-use between men and women within the same household and impacts on intrahousehold dynamics and economic opportunities. The pros and cons of these two measurement methods are discussed, along with suggestions on how such methods might be implemented in other projects to provide similar value.

Check out the full case study for key findings and more information.