Imputing Monetary Value to Egyptian Females' Unpaid Domestic and Care Work

In several cultures, it is believed that women's primary functions are reproductive, domestic and care work (such as housework, cooking, and caring for children, the elderly, and the sick), while men are the main breadwinners. This leads to an incomplete picture of women's real contribution to economic life, where women's unpaid work (especially domestic and care work) is most often being devalued and ignored in various indicators such as GDP. This underestimates women's role in the work field. Proper valuation of unpaid work would show that women should also be considered as main breadwinners if the number of hours worked rather than the money earned is considered. The main objective of this paper is to present a more realistic picture of the Egyptian women's contribution in the economic and domestic spheres of society by determining the level of different types of work done by Egyptian women (15- 64 years) and time spent doing it, and imputing a monetary value of the time spent by women in domestic and care work activities.