Much less is known about division of labor
within the household and variations regionally. A
study of time use data collected in six states in India
(Table 2) shows that, regardless of region, women
in India bear all of the responsibility for domestic
work – men account for less than 5 percent of all
domestic or care-giving activities (Narasimhan and
Panday 2000). Women’s time in productive work
south asia 241also does not vary systematically by regions repre-
sented by the six states. The only indicator of vari-
ation across states is that women in the northern
states of Haryana and Gujarat are far less likely to
be paid for work while women in the southern state
of Tamil Nadu are more likely to be paid for pro-
ductive work and also have the lowest number of
hours spent in such work.Table 2: Average number of hours per week by type of activity, rural areas in six states, 1998–9
State Women’s Domestic Women’s Productive % of Women’s Productive
Work Work Work Unpaid
Haryana, North 23.5 30.7 86
Madhya Pradesh, North 23.0 35.5 52
Gujarat, North 24.0 37.5 45
Orissa, East 19.0 35.3 69
Tamil Nadu, South 23.5 29.5 33
Meghalaya, East 29.0 34.5 76
Source: Narasimhan and Panday 2000.
Time use data are seldom found disaggregated by
religion. A survey of married adolescents in Bang-
ladesh showed that Hindu and Muslim women do
not differ much in the average hours of time spent
in domestic work versus productive work (6.35
hours for Muslim women compared to 6.73 hours
for Hindu women) (data from Amin, adolescent
survey, 2001).
Table 3 shows detailed daily time accounts from
rural women living in agricultural households in
Bangladesh, West Bengal, and Rajasthan. The table
shows that there is more similarity in time use pat-
tern by region than by religion. Surveys conducted
among Bengali women in Hindu and Muslim vil-
lages in India and Bangladesh showed they had
similar patterns of work. The main contrast shown
in the table is that women in Rajasthan spend an
average of three hours a day in crop production
related activities and thus have longer hours of
work overall. By contrast women in Bengal spend
less than half an hour in crop production.Table 3: Average hours worked per day in various tasks by rural women in four studies in India and Bangladesh
Activities Mohanpur, West Bengal, Char Gopalpur, Rajasthan,
Bangladesh 1991 India 1976 Bangladesh 1976 North India 1976
Dominant Religion Muslim Hindu Muslim Hindu
Crop Production 0.22 0.56 0.28 3.03
Wage Work 0.15 0.13 0.49 0.03
Animal Care and Other
Non-Domestic 0.86 0.52 0.56 0.61
Rice Processing 0.30 0.26 1.29 0.21
Childcare 0.32 0.32 0.80 0.91
Handicrafts 0.27 0.36 0.28 0.03
Fuel Collection 0.81 0.36 0.36 0.55
Food Prep/Housework 4.35 5.12 4.24 3.64
Total Hours Worked 7.32 7.82 7.81 9.01
Persons Observed 215 381 174 189
Source: Amin 1997.
Muslim influence is frequently invoked to ex-
plain the relatively low status of women in the
north but there is little evidence to support a causal
influence. While it is true that Mughal influence is
more evident in the north relative to the south or
the east in terms of music, art, architecture, and cui-
sine, it appears not to extend to the treatment of
women (Morgan et al. 2002, Jejeebhoy and Sathar
2001). Indeed, there is strong numerical dominance
of Muslims in Sri Lanka, Kerala, and Karnataka,
three states where women’s status indicators are
most favorable.