Trends in unpaid work across the world and progress in time-use data collection and policy use

Abstract This paper builds on a database of 44 countries for which several estimates of time use in unpaid and paid work have been made available thanks to the repetition of national time-use surveys over 5 decades. Trends of unpaid, paid, and total work are highlighted in a descriptive, comparative, and gender perspective, by country and groups of countries, to assess the progress towards gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. The approach is part of the process of recognition within the 3Rs strategy of Recognition–Reduction–Redistribution (of unpaid work) towards the design of family-friendly policies. It is also a plea in favour of time-use surveys, which are too often neglected and underused.