Impact of infrastructures on paid work opportunities and unpaid work burdens on rural women in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract This study deals with two questions: what role infrastructures can play in promoting paid work opportunities for women and what specific type of infrastructure can reduce women's time burden? The study brings empirical evidence on these two questions in a specific country context. Findings from an econometric model that endogenises women's paid and unpaid work show that the impacts of infrastructure on women's work and total time burden depend on the type of a particular infrastructure and availability of other infrastructures. While hard infrastructure shows significant influence on women's work with a lag, a rise in paid work outside home has not been equally compensated by a decline in unpaid work at home. The findings have important policy implications in infrastructure policy design and provision. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.