The Heavier Burden Of Women In Unpaid Care Work And Their Higher Contribution To Total Work In The Maghreb Countries

Résumé: The Maghreb countries are among those with the lowest female economic participation rates. And the same is true for the female participation rates in the informal economy. To what extent such an underrepresentation of women in the labour force and in the informal economy in particular can be explained by the content and the boundaries as well as the common understanding of the concepts of labour force and employment? The paper tentatively assesses the trends in labour force participation rates in a comparative perspective. It then synthesises the contribution of women (and men) to unpaid care work as measured by time-use surveys conducted at national level in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, assuming that it can lead to a better knowledge and understanding of the real contribution of women to the economy in this region. It concludes by discussing the recent adoption, in 2013, of new concepts for labour force and employment and by replacing this discussion within the broader reflexion on the definition of work that irrigated the economic thought since its very beginning.

Publié dans la revue: Revue d'études sur les institutions et le développement