Accounting for Women's Work: An Evaluation of Two Decades of Progress

Abstract

This paper summarizes the main issues that have emerged in the debates about the traditional underestimation of women's work. Beginning with an assessment of the problem in the four main areas of statistical underestimation -subsistence production, the informal sector, domestic work and volunteer work- it then analyzes the progress made towards a more accurate accouting during the past decade, both in labor force statistics and national income accounts.