Drudgery of Women’s Work: Pilot Study of Two Villages
Ritika Goenka, an intern at FAS, made a presentation on the “Drudgery of women’s work: pilot study of two villages,” on Thursday, June 27, 2019, at the office of the Foundation. The presentation is part of a study led by Madhura Swaminathan, Professor at the Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru.
In her presentation, Ritika described the different methods used to estimate the Physical Activity Levels (PAL) among males and females. Individuals are categorised as highly active, active, sedantary, and etc, based on the PAL values that they obtain.
Ritika and Madhura’s study uses the data collected through time-use surveys conducted in two villages in Karnataka – Alabujanahalli in Mandya district, and Siresandra in Kolar district. The data gives the detail of the time spent by rural women in various activities during the span of a day. The data on the energy spent corresponding to these activities have been taken from in a global compendium (Ainsworth MET compendium). These data points have been used to calculate the total energy spent by these women in the course of their daily routine. They plan to test the findings of the study with evidence from some other laboratory-based method of evaluating PAL.