Seclusion and women's time: Descriptive evidence from India

We use rich time-use data on where, and how, individuals spend their time to explore women’s seclusion in India. We document extremely high levels of seclusion with the median woman leaving home for just 0.5 hours/day. Seclusion has increased markedly over the past two decades, particularly amongst poorer and less-educated women, although richer and more-educated women remain the most secluded. Both between- and within-activity differences in seclusion contribute to the gender gap and, within market work, women specialize in jobs suitable for homeworking but these are lower paid. Our findings suggest households are willing to pay for women’s seclusion.