Time spent by women and men in households on economic and care activities during productive hours in Morogoro District, Tanzania

Abstract

Using a cross sectional survey, this study investigated variations in time spent between men and women in economic productive and non-economic reproductive activities in a rural environment in Morogoro District in Tanzania. The study investigated 323 married or cohabiting women between the ages of 15 and 49 who lived in six villages across three wards. To determine the time expenditure disparity between men and women, females and their male counterparts were interviewed. A standardized questionnaire and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to obtain quantitative and supplementary qualitative data, respectively. IBM SPSS V22 was used for data analysis. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Women and men spent considerably different amounts of time engaged in productive and reproductive activities. Women spend 2.23 h less daily in economic production than males. Women spend 1.20 and 2.12 more hours daily on family care and child nursing, respectively. Aside from non-productive time, 64.8% of women devote 3 more hours to access maternal and child health services. Women spend more time in non-productive activities due to constrained access to social services and delivery at MCH clinics.