profeminist:

profeminist:

refinery29:

Have you ever heard of “time poverty?” – here’s why it’s the biggest issue preventing gender equality

Images: Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock/Gregory Pace/BEI

“Across the globe, women spend about 4.5 hours a day on unpaid labor, such as child care and household chores. For men, that figure drops in half.

That’s according to data cited by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which identified the issue of time poverty as a central focus in an annual letter released by its wealthy benefactors. In poor countries, the unpaid labor gap grows. Women in India, for example, spend an estimated six hours a day on unpaid labor. Men there spend just an hour on such chores.

The expectations affect a woman’s ability to work outside the home.

“She doesn’t even get out of the house in that situation. She is trapped in that home,” Melinda Gates told Refinery29 during a round table interview earlier this year. “So she doesn’t even get to go to the market, or participate in a job.“ 

Read the full piece here