Valuation Of Unpaid Labor And Informal Labor In Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

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Valuation of unpaid labor and informal labor in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Name of Student

Institution Affiliation

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VALUATION OF UNPAID LABOR AND INFORMAL LABOR IN

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

Introduction

The activities that human beings take part in can be said to be either paid work, unpaid

work or no work at all (Antonopoulos, 2009). Unpaid labor is a form of non-market work and

does not receive any direct compensation or pay. The System of National Account’s (SNA) is

used in the classification of various types of unpaid labor. The two types of unpaid labor are

SNA and non-SNA. This depends on whether the kind of work in question falls within the

production boundary of SNA work. An example of SNA is a gross domestic product (GDP)

(Hirway, 2015). Paid work, on the other hand, can be defined as the time contracted out that is

paid for. According to Antonopoulos, these subsidies that go unnoticed show that there are

power relations between women and men. They also link the public world of markets to the

private world of household and families in a negative way (Antonopoulos, 2009).

According to ILO (2014, P.13) An NLF survey that was conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal

showed that men earn more than females on average. Labor exploitation and high recruitment

costs are also widely evident at all stages of the recruitment process. These limitations hence lead

to unemployment, which is evident for women and youths in the region. As a result of

unemployment women then get involved in housework.

The National Planning Commission in Nepal (2017) announced that 21.6 percent of

people in Nepal still live below the poverty line. This can be due to the poor physical

infrastructure in the country and Kathmandu. This factor among others such as the frequent

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political changes, labor union's stringent labor law, and labor unions have made it difficult to

diversify the economy in Kathmandu.

Literature Review

Chapter 5, "Paid and Unpaid Work”

By, Lourdes Benería.

There is a difference between unpaid and paid work. Caregiving, housework, and

volunteering are the few examples of unpaid labor in this chapter, which are defined, socially

valued, organized, and gendered. This chapter seeks to provide discussion about these areas.

(Shrestha, 2008.)

The extent of the model in which human behavior is based on a motive that has been

associated with; altruism, empathy, collective responsibility, and solidarity is further elaborated

in this article. In this article, there is an emphasis by the feminist economists that there is need to

construct a new model. Their emphasis is on the provision of statistical data and library

resources other than the model, which they believe, is based on market-oriented motives.

(Shrestha, 2008.)

According to the UN’s Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995, p. 27),

female’s role in taking care of the society and family is still not given the needed recognition.

The raising of children involves and requires that both parents be committed and responsible.

Acknowledgment should be given to the important roles women play in the society and to the

wellbeing of their family." This paper examines the impact of gender inequality on gender

differences related to labor activities in the framework of paid and unpaid labor. This is one of

the serious problems of the modern world, which requires the implementation of new approaches

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to resolving it. The focus will be on unpaid work and informal labor performed by women in

Nepal. The research will examine women's opinions regarding the value of their work and

investigate the availability of leisure time to them. It will also focus to provide a better outlook

on how women utilize their time, including both work and leisure. The documentation of case

studies will be included in the paper.

Background

Traditional practices in the Nepal and Kathmandu serve to reinforce discrimination,

which provides another challenge to development efforts. Discrimination and marginalization are

evident in economic and social exclusion of women who mostly work in informal sectors.

Development programs aimed at social and gender inclusion often lack effectiveness across the

various population groups and different regions of Nepal. For example, the National Human

Development Report (2014) ranked the gender-related empowerment and development situation

to be lower in the Western regions of the country.

The Kathmandu post in (3

2017) reported Nepal is showing a positive improvement, the

human development index (HDI) of Nepal has improved from 0.548 in 2014 to 0.558 in 2015.

Among the 188 countries that were, surveyed Nepal secured position 144 two times in a row.

This improvement in the score escalated Nepal to the medium human development group from

low human development. (The Kathmandu post 3, 23 2017)

In Nepal, women are subject to extreme economic discrimination that contributes to

reinforcing of other types of discrimination. Marginalization of women stems from lack of

respect and appreciation of their work, which further contributes to inequality and makes their

efforts economically invisible. Therefore, there is a need to change this widely used practice of

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neglecting and undervaluing the economic contribution of women to society. The variety of

unpaid activities that Nepal's women perform consists of time-consuming and hard work, which

includes care of livestock and work in the fields, taking care of children, cooking, washing, and

cleaning, as well as community work. Most of these activities confine to maintaining a

household and considered as economically insignificant, thus attributing the roles of

breadwinners to men and the roles of dependents to women. (Shrestha, 2008 P.1)

Women contribute to maintaining households significantly more compared to men. In

most of the South Asian countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal, the amount of household-

related activities performed by women exceeds men's contribution by 3 to 15 times this is

according to the report on Human Development in South Asia (2000.)

This chart below compares the amount of time that was utilized by women and men on

unpaid labor in both the developed countries like the United States of America and developing

countries like India. Just like in Kathmandu women in other countries also are also affected and

this issue needs to be looked into. It is, however, important to note that developing countries like

India has the highest difference between the number of hours spent by men and women in unpaid

labor. Developed countries like the United States of America, on the other hand, recorded the

least difference in the amount of time that was spent on unpaid labor.

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Chart 1; Time utilized On Unpaid labor Selected OECD and Developing Countries.

Source: Antonopoulos 2009.

Considering that this input stays widely unrecognizable, this creates negative and

significant effects on the status of females in the community. This includes limiting and

diminishing women's role in governing and community institutions, their entitlements to income,

wealth, and financial benefits have a negative impact on their self-confidence.

A successful implementation of the development strategies aimed at recognition and

more accurate determining of women's labor and their role requires the revision of Nepal's

National Accounting Systems (NAS). The necessity of change in this situation created a long-

standing dispute regarding unpaid women's labor included in the NAS and the utilization of

Time of hours spent on aunpaid labour

Countries

Time utilized On Unpaid labor Selected OECD

and Developing Countries

female

male

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gender-disaggregated statistics that will facilitate obtaining a real representation of economic

contribution of women. The improvement of the system of evaluation of work performed by

women is likely to redefine economic roles of women, establishing their economic importance,

as well as increasing the recognition of their contribution to other activities.

Methodology

The study includes several core objectives. The main objective is to provide evidence of

the importance of unpaid work done by the Nepalese women and to estimate their productive

contribution and the monetary value of their activities. Another objective includes determining

the monetary component of women’s household and community labor to highlight their

significant contributions and generate social awareness. Generating social awareness is likely to

draw lawmakers especially those in the policymaking and public service to this problem, which

will, in turn, reflect the economic role of women in designing national policies, budgets, and

strategies.

This research seeks to focus on the types of unpaid work performed by women in

Kathmandu. It also examines women's opinions regarding the value of their work and

investigates the availability of leisure time to them. To provide a better understanding of how

men and women spend their time, including both work and leisure, the documentation of case

studies is acknowledged in the research. Geographical areas of the research include three urban

municipalities and rural settlement development bodies from Kathmandu Valley. The interview

sample consists of 150 respondents, including about a hundred and two married women and

thirty men (Shrestha, 2008). The female and male respondents did not engage in any personal

relationships. In addition, the study includes discussion results of three focus groups conducted

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in Kirtipur municipality, Imadol, and Machhegaun village development committees. These focus

groups included women and men and comprised of eighteen to thirty individuals. The study also

includes in-depth interviews with the mix of urban and rural interviewees consisting of six

females and four males from the focus groups.

Limitation of the study

The important limitations noted during the research include; geographic limitations of the

village development committees and municipalities being restricted to only Kathmandu Valley

and an estimated about 150 respondents and the opinion- and attitude-based character of the

survey. The geographic limitations do not allow for finding and recommendations to be

extrapolated and generalized across other regions of Nepal outside Kathmandu Valley.

Therefore, obtaining a more comprehensive picture of the issue requires a study that uses more

rigorous research tools and covers a larger area and population.

Research Findings

General information

The family structure in the sample of the 80 married females and 20 married males

consists of two to five family members for 62.5 percent of the respondents, six to nine members

for 28.3 percent of the respondents, and 10 or more members for 9.2 percent of the respondents

(Shrestha, 2008).

The age of the interviewed women ranged from 20 years to 50 years, while the age of the

interviewed men ranged from 24 years to 54 years, with most respondents being aged from 21

years to 30 years and 36 years to 45 years respectively (Shrestha, 2008).

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The Brahmin and Chhetri ethnic group largely represented participants from the rural

areas. Participants from the rural areas and more than 50 percent of the respondents were of the

Newar or Janajati ethnicity (Shrestha, 2008).

For the majority of the females who responded live in a single-family unit, whereas most

male respondents live in a mixed family setting. Essentially, the female and males who

responded are not involved in any personal relationships. Majority of the respondents profess

Hinduism, while the religious preferences of the urban respondents shifted toward Buddhism

(Shresta, 2008).

The responses regarding the monthly household income given by men and women differ.

According to the responses from the male, the average income 7,370 Indian rupees in an urban

setting is 11467 Rupees while it is 4,800 Rupees the rural areas. The respective numbers

gathered from women’s responses are 7,370 Rupees for urban areas and 6,237 Rupees for rural

areas (Shrestha, 2008).

A case study of a woman named Rita (not her real name) below though is a classic

example of how women from the rural areas spend their day doing domestic work which mostly

goes unpaid and unrecognized.

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Source cited: (Shrestha, 2008, Pp. 4-5)

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Table 2: Female Respondents by Occupation (Shrestha, 2008 Pp.8)

Research findings of a research conducted to find out the economic valuation and extent

of women’s unpaid labor in the valley of Kathmandu show that more than, 90 percent of women

doing all housework by themselves. Moreover, this is a common perception of the issue of both

men and women. These activities take up most of the women's working day– rural women spend

approximately 13 hours per day doing housework, while urban women spend 10 hours (Shrestha,

2008). This schedule extends even further with occasional tasks performed not daily. Such

situation provides very little opportunity for leisure time. For example, Bindu Shrestha, one of

the respondents who had participated in-depth interviews, must maintain a household of 12

family members, while receiving almost no help in her chores. Unavoidable daily chores take up

at least 9 hours each day and do not provide for any days off. In addition, weekly and monthly

planned activities, as well as occasional events, such as guest visits, do not allow the woman to

have any leisure time. The worst part, in this case, is that family members do not consider her

work as economically valuable. There is also a disparity of gender perception on women's leisure

time since most female respondents believe that they do not have sufficient leisure time, while

most of their male counterparts are of different opinion.

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In conjunction of the work the women do, rural women report indication shows that more

than half a day is spent on domestic work whereas urban women report indication shows that

they spend about ten hours a day. This excludes activities listed below in Table 3. For women in

urban areas, the activities that consume more time are preparing meals, helping in the family

business work. Women in rural areas spend most of their time in activities such as preparing

meals for the family which amounts to about 4-hours daily, laundry, grocery shopping. A careful

comparison shows interesting similarities and differences such as time allocation and other

activities taking longer to perform.

Women performance and engagement of other task occur often less than daily, for

example, more than 90 percent of the women in urban areas indicate that they are required to

often look after guest, pay visits to relatives, friends or perhaps look after a sick family member.

There are other tasks that they perform irregularly such as laundry, grocery shopping, bill

payment etc. A majority of both the women from rural and urban areas state that they rarely

engage in social service activities due to limited time.

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Table 3: Selected Non-Daily Households Activities. (Shrestha, 2008)

Leisure time

Ninety percent of women from nuclear family and seventy-seven percent of women from

joint family in both the rural and urban areas said that they sometimes get some leisure time

whereas twenty percent of the women who were from rural areas said that they have no time for

leisure. Women who were from joint families are more likely to have no free time for leisure

activities when compared to those from nuclear families in a ratio of 23.4% versus 12.3%

(Shrestha, 2008).

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An observation of men on their view of leisure time for women showed that about 73%

of men from rural areas and 67% of men from urban think that women have leisure time.

However, some men agreed that sometimes women have leisure time (Shrestha, 2008).

The economic value of domestic work

About one-half of the women from the urban areas said that domestic work has no value

when they were asked if domestic work has economic value. Half of the men from the urban

areas also said that domestic work has no value. Only one-fifth of the women and men from the

rural areas reported that they did not know. (Shrestha, 2008)

According to Shrestha, (2008) for women with higher education levels, it appeared that

their work is highly valued. However, the results are still not clear; this is because of the

insufficient sample to draw clear statements on this issue.

Household Work and its Economic Estimation

The research team came to a decision to apply a minimum wage approach for laborers.

This was after they looked at the problems and the pushbacks that are there in an effort to grade

the value of work that the women do. This is because if women impact on the economy was to be

rated even with a low wage for the least skilled worker, they would be more than compensated

(Shrestha, 2008).

It is also essential to note that despite a lower rural wage gap, women from the rural areas

should be paid more for the work they do as compared to those living and working in urban

areas. This is because women from the rural areas spend more hours in a day doing household

work as compared to the women from urban areas. (Shrestha, 2008)

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Informal Economy

The term informal sector can be defined as the type of labor that is not formal. Which

means it does not have any social protection schemes or workplace regulation and it is performed

outside the tax governing structures. Informal sector can, therefore, be said to be all economic

activities not covered by formal arrangements in law or in practice. (Hussmanns, 2004, p. 2)

In developing countries, it is averaged that all jobs in the non-agricultural sector are

informal. The rate is as high as 80% in South Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa (Huitfeldt, Jütting, &

Jütting, 2009). People working in the informal sector face several challenges. They are highly

vulnerable as they lack legal protection and regulatory framework and they also face the

challenge of lack of recognition. A higher percentage of the people working in this informal

sector are children and women. Hence the deficits in the informal labor should be looked into by

all stakeholders such as the government and the non-state actors. (ILO, 2002)

In Asia, Nepal is ranked as both the poorest and also has the most imbalanced societies. More

than one-half of the residents work in the informal sector and they earn so little that they can't

cater for their upkeep. (ILO Country Office for Nepal, 2010, p. 9).

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GDP per capita: $1,300 (2012) WB: comparison: 207

Unemployment rate: 46% (2008) WB Comparison: 192

(Source: CBS 2011)

Measuring of Poverty in Nepal

A person is required to take a calorie consumption 2,200 /person /day and earn a salary of more

than RS 14,430

Government Efforts to eradicate poverty

The government of Nepal started to implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

(PRSP) in an effort to reduce the poverty rate in the year 2002/2003. The government has set

goals in place and some measurable socio-economic targets. Some of the PRSP strategies are

mentioned in the chart below.

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Source: PRSP REVIEW 2004/2005

There has been a growth in the funds controlled by the community which is a result of the

implementation of these PRSP plans as shown in the chart below.

The ministry of local development through the district funds has begun to channel

resource to the community in an effort to end poverty more reforms plans are in place as planned

in the fourth year MTEF. Some of the basic features are

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In an effort to reduce poverty the United Nations in September 2000 adopted The Millennium

Development Goals (MDG) and Nepal is among the 189 countries in this time bound

commitment to end poverty.

The chart below shows the achievement made, this is in an effort to fulfill the MDG goals in

Nepal in relation to their targets for the year 2015. Some targets have been fully achieved

whereas others have only been partially achieved. However, there are still efforts by the

government to accomplish new targets and those that have been partially approved.

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Source cited: Retrieved from http://file:///C:/Users/DDW%20Guest.AD/Downloads/MDG-Status-

Report-2016_.pdf

Role of education in the reduction of poverty

Education is important for economic and social development as it raises productivity at

various levels. According to a study carried out by the World Bank showed that there was a

correlation between educational attainment and individual households earning. The study also

showed a relation between mother's education and her fertility rates. Lastly, morbidity and

nutritional status of a child were found to be related (The World Bank 2001, p.1).

Literacy levels in Nepal vary among different regions. In Kathmandu, only 77% are

literate whereas in Dolpa only 26.6% are literate. The literacy gap is also wide between male and

female. Kathmandu, for example, has 66.4% of females whereas the male counterpart is 86.3%

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Legislation and policies

The legislation and policies on the regulation and functioning regarding the non-formal

welfare and economy of the informal laborers has put emphasis on the worker’s right to good

working conditions as stipulated by several international bodies such as the International labor

organization (ILO) which has its main concerns on four major elements; freedom of dialogue and

expression, primary rights at the place of duties, security and employment. Favorable working

conditions should be inclusive of satisfied, favorable conditions of labor, work forms and feeling

of worth by the workers.

The informal labor's regulations and policies have both primary and secondary effects on

the informal economy. However, these policies and regulations are only tools and their effects

can only be revealed upon efficient enforcement and application. Inconsistencies and gaps are

the two major identity areas of in policies. The function of these policies is regulation and

ensuring favorable working condition. An inconsistency of policy is when two or more policies

conflict on the same issue, therefore, bringing about confusions and deficiency of the policies.

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In Kathmandu, these policies that protect the rights of workers are present but are not

strictly implemented and enforced. There has been an increase in incidents of abuse of workers'

rights have increased despite the fact that Nepal has been making efforts to curb them. Acts of

trade, black marketing, labor and foreign employment have been passed by the Nepal

government with the aim of enforcing the implementation and application of these policies.

The Nepal government is currently employing policies focusing on credit and micro-

financing services through the agriculture and cooperatives ministry as well as the ministry of

transport management and labor. These ministries, however, face coordination issues that must

be solved in order to fix the policy and regulation of informal labor faced in Kathmandu.

Recommendations

There is a certain need to implement policies and laws that would induce a change in the

current situation of gender inequality and discrimination and make household contributions more

recognizable. The most important improvement would include incorporation of household work

of women into calculations of GDP.

To change the traditional mindset regarding women's roles, the government should launch

appropriate programs aimed at raising awareness about the importance of women's contributions

and economic value of their household work. Moreover, unaccounted women's workload in rural

areas should be reduced by provision of infrastructures, such as schools and basic amenities. In

addition, more women in Nepal should be incentivized to participate in women's organizations and

create unions that defend women's rights.

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Conclusion

To sum up, household work performed by women in Nepal is one of the backbones that

maintain everyday life, thus women's contributions to the economy and society cannot be

overestimated. However, daily chores that women perform are often unaccounted for, which

makes society attribute women with a subsidiary status. Although international awareness of

existing gender inequality and discrimination is growing, there is little to none evidence of the

progress on this issue in Nepal. The traditional perception of women's roles and economic status

combined with the insufficient attention of the government to the issue result in undervaluation of

women's contributions. The commitments of the government of Nepal outlined in the Constitution

attend to the economic and social problems of marginalized groups. However, the gradual

implementation of the necessary changes might require some time for the results to become

apparent.

Education plays a very important role in improving the productivity of a society. In Nepal

out of the 77% of the people who were literate, 66.4% were females whereas 86% were males.

The number females who have a formal education is very low and this is an area that needs to be

looked into by all stakeholder in order to improve the life of women in the society. Once this is

done their work will be more valued hence raising their social status.

The discussion on ensuring that there is gender equality needs more attention as the

progress in achieving the objectives of gender justice and equality has failed to measure up. This

is because the contributions of women and their efforts are grossly unappreciated.

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The results of this study suggest that women contribute to the economy significantly;

although it goes unnoticed, their unpaid work is estimated to be contributing to the country’s GDP

by almost 91.3%. This contribution is roughly US$11.25 billion which would nearly double if all

the work they do that goes unpaid is added up. For this reason, there is urgent need to review the

conventional methodological practices that are in place which and are currently related to the

System of National Accounting (SNA). The Current practices have also failed to recognize

women's tremendous efforts and their contribution to the economy hence needs to be reviewed

It is also very important to ensure that the values, attitudes, and outlooks of policymakers

and the public as a whole regarding household work are changed. Qualitative changes in this area

will help ensure that the household work that Women do benefit everyone. Women’s work is very

important to the nation and needs to be valued and appreciated

References

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Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). United Nations. Retrieved from,

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf

International Labour office Nepal. (2004) Decent work for all Women and men in Nepal Retrieved

from,

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kathmandu/documents/publication/wcms_113778.pdf

International Labour office Nepal ILO (2013) The informal Economy and Decent work: A policy

Resource guide supporting transitions to formality. Retrieved from,

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/rep-i.htm

Jagannath Adhikari (2008) Land reforms in Nepal problems and prospect Retrieved from

http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/land_reform_complete_-_done.pdf

Menaka Rajbhandari Shrestha (2008) A study on the Economic Valuation of Women's unpaid

work in Kathmandu Valley Retrieved from

https://healthbridge.ca/images/uploads/library/Nepal_summary_report_final.pdf

Ministry of Labour and Employment (2016). Labour Migration for Employment: A Status Report

for Nepal 2014/2015. The government of Nepal. Retrieved from

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kathmandu/documents/publication/wcms_500311.pdf

National Planning Commission (2014). Nepal Human Development Report 2014. The government

of Nepal. Retrieved from http://www.hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/nepal_nhdr_2014-final.pdf

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Commission (2017). Voluntary National Review of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Government of Nepal. Retrieved from.

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/15896Nepal_Main_Message_HLPF_2

017.pdf

Naome Chakanya, (2007) Sustainable goals: A pathway towards inclusive economic development

and promotion of decent work challenges, opportunities, and future prospect. Retrieved from

https://www.ituccsi.org/IMG/pdf/ledriz_background_paper_for_the_sdg_national_stakeh

olders_conference.pdf

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