Time use surveys are one of the fundamental, and most widely employed, research tools used to bring a gender perspective to project planning. However, narrow interpretations of time use data can distort the understanding of how project-induced time use changes affect women and men’s well-being. This paper, published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, introduces the concept of the Capability Approach (CA), and how it relates to gender policy and planning.
The authors argue that the application of some of the central concepts of the CA can strengthen the scope of time use surveys as a gendered planning tool, drawing on the example of the ‘Alliances’ rural economic development project in Georgia. The paper makes the case that if the research tools used to collect data for gender analysis are both to reveal how planned interventions affect gender equality, and to give women and men the space to voice their interests in the planning process, then the design and application of such tools need to fulfill a number of criteria. As illustrated by the Alliances project, in the case of time use surveys this implies more than quantifying changes in the time uses of women and men, and making assumptions about the impact of these changes on their well-being. Instead, this requires using time use surveys as a basis for examining what time use changes mean for the women and men themselves.
The paper argues that some of the central tenets of the CA can be used to add these elements to time use research. In particular, the distinction between ‘functionings’ and ‘capabilities’, the examination of capability spaces, and engaging with issues of autonomous agency all add crucial depth to the collection and analysis of time use data.
Undertaking qualitative research that engages with these issues is an entry point which can begin to unpack the complexities of how changes in time use affect women and men’s well-being and opportunities. Such qualitative research both creates an opportunity for further quantitative research into time use and well-being, and can also act as means to interrogate quantitative datasets on changing time use patterns.
[adapted from source]