Modelling Gender Dimensions of the Impact of Economic Reforms on Time Allocation among Market, Household, and Leisure Activities in Pakistan

Women and men are different from each other not only biologically but also in terms of constraints and discriminatory behaviour they face. Women are less fed, less educated, less mobile, less empowered, and overburdened by household work such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and the aged, fetching water, looking after farm animals, and gathering wood [Cagatay (1995); Sathar and Kazi (1997); Siddiqui, et al. (2001)]. These activities not only restrain them from education and training but also severely constrain their ability to respond to economic incentives as men do and fail to achieve equal level of men. Men as a breadwinner receive both nutritional and educational priority [White and Masset (2002)], while women remain relatively illiterate and malnourished. Consequently, different quality and quantity of female-labour and male-labour emerges which play a very important role in determining the impact of any policy change.