SASKATOON – Homemakers will have their work time counted in the next federal census.
The 1996 Statistics Canada census will ask Canadians how many hours they spend doing unpaid child care and house and yard work.
According to the Work is Work Coalition, domestic work in Canada was worth $319 billion in 1992, more than the manufacturing industry.
Carol Lees, a member of the coalition and the Canadian Alliance for Home Managers, says it is a step in the right direction.
Lees, who has dedicated the past five years to the cause, says economic policy discourages Canadians from staying at home because their work is not valued. She said if current trends continue, the next generation won’t have the choice of staying at home.
Read Also
Europe holds promise for Canadian lentils
Pulse Canada is trying to help boost lentil consumption in Europe, which is already the fourth largest market.
“I have chosen to be at home full-time for the past 18 years,” says Lees, “and I have been very unhappy with the lack of recognition.”
Boycott threatened
Lees said she and other members of the Work is Work Coalition refused to complete the forms for the last census and threatened a boycott of the next census if a question about unpaid work was not included.
While Lees is happy domestic work information will be collected by the government, she says it is only the first step in making home management more visible. She would like to see it accepted in labor statistics as unpaid work rather than unemployment. This would show that domestic labor does contribute to Canada’s economy as measured by the Gross Domestic Product.
The Work is Work Coalition will also push to have volunteer work, which adds up to an additional one billion hours every year, included in the census.
