Abstract:
Social norms drive women to practice unpaid caring activities that constitute an important barrier to their access to paid activities within the labour market in Benin. Assessing how far unpaid caring activities affect their business activities will help to improve the livelihoods of women. A survey was carried out in the district of Ouidah, with 300 households randomly selected to be issued with a questionnaire. Four types of households were identified according to their different characteristics. Payment for domestic work varied from one household to another. Most of the household types entrusted the care of their children to family members. Childcare, eldercare, and other home tasks were assigned to women according to the social norms, with men carrying out the more physically demanding roles (coconut harvesting, moto riding, basket lixiviation, palisade construction, fishing). The time allocated to work by women decreased with the increased coverage of the households’ needs and the education level of women in the household. This study provides knowledge that could help decision makers to design appropriate strategies to reduce women’s unpaid domestic work and to close the gender gap in the different households in mangrove areas of Ramsar site 1017 in Benin.
