Introduction:
The objective of this paper is to analyse certain aspects of time allocation and their implications for economic well-being. Based on broad information of time-use studies and keeping in mind the lack of data regarding time-use in Mozambique, the paper intends to explore some aspects of household activities that are underpinned by time allocation within the household production context in rural Mozambique.
While there is much to be discussed about time-use and more broadly time allocation, this paper will focus on some aspects of time allocation. The paper will focus first on the review of the literature, concerning particularly gender, intra-household allocation, social norms, poverty and access to basic resources as a baseline to inform the application of the principles and experiences to the Mozambique situation. Based on the review of the literature, the paper will then identify the implication of time allocation in the Mozambique context, a peasant-dominated country where patterns of household and gender relations are entrenched in norms and values of time allocation that informs household economic well-being.
The paper will build on previous work in the field and will focus mainly on issues that arise from doctoral field-work data. The theoretical basis of the paper is informed by structuralist theory in the sense of examining power and class relations in society to explain or access the development process as an element that can work locally, nationally and internationally. Structuralists consider the importance of the structure of society as well as class power analyses to understand development within and between societies.
