VALUE OF HOUSEHOLD AND FARM WORK - EVIDENCE FROM ALBERTA FARM FAMILY DATA

Estimates of the economic value of unpaid household and farm work of Alberta farm women and men are calculated using two common market alternative cost methods. Time use data for 1984 collected by Doherty and Keating (1985) from 414 Alberta grain farm families as well as Statistics Canada wage data are used. The average annual value of unpaid farm work ranges from $20,647.35 to $29,088.24 for men and from $5,017.54 to $6,604.19 for women. Conversely, unpaid household work performed by women has an average annual value of $17,460.98 to $34,617.66, while the value of men's unpaid household work ranges from $1,943.02 to $3,962.54 annually. When the values of farm and household production and the income generated by off-farm work are accounted for, there is little difference between men's and women's total contributions to the economic well-being of the farm family. These estimates illustrate the importance of family members' unpaid work to the economic well-being of the family. They also suggest that there is little basis for the historic inequity of legal and other social systems that neglect the economic value of women's contributions to family welfare.