MENU

Household Care Survey 2014: Men’s Behavior and Division of Tasks

The Men’s Behavior and Division of Tasks measure includes 10 items from Oxfam’s 2014 Household Care Survey (2014 HCS) Questionnaire. The items asked male participants about the division of care work in their household, and their preferences for completing certain tasks, such as chores and caregiving. The HCS is a multi-country questionnaire developed by Oxfam’s Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care) program to collect data on time spent by adults and children on unpaid care work and gender inequality in care work.

Categories

Geographies Tested: Colombia,Ethiopia,Philippines,Uganda,Zimbabwe

Populations Included: Male

Age Range: Adults

Items:

Interviewer: I am going to ask you several questions about how you and your partnerspouse divide responsibilities in your household. Please disregard the help you receive from other household members. These questions are only about you and your partnerspouse.

1. Who usually does this [TASK]?

[TASKS:]

  • Water collection
  • Fuel collection
  • Meal preparation
  • Washing, ironing, mending clothes
  • Cleaning the house or compound
  • Caring for children
  • Caring for elderly, ill or disabled
  • Caring for community members

Response Options:
I do always - 0
Usually me - 1
Shared equally or done together - 2
Usually my partner - 3
My partner does always - 4
others in household do this task - 5
I don’t know - 98
No one not applicable – 99

2. If ‘usually my partner’ or ‘my partner does everything’ in item 1: Would you like to participate more in [TASK]?

Response Options:
No - 0
Yes - 1

3. If ‘usually my partner’ or ‘my partner does everything’ in item 1: Would your partner like you to participate more in [TASK]?

Response Options:
No - 0
Yes - 1

4. Which domestic work or care tasks are your preferred ones?

Response Options:
Not among the top three preferred tasks - 0
Preferred task - 1
Second preferred task - 2
Third preferred task - 3

5. Do you agree with the following statements?

  • I do this amount of caring for people because I personally think it is the right thing to do
  • I do this amount of domestic work because I personally think it is the right thing to do
  • I do this amount of caring for people because I think this is what other men do
  • I do this amount of domestic work because I think this is what other men do
  • I do this amount of caring for people because I think this is what others expect me to do
  • I do this amount of domestic work because I think this is what others expect me to do

Response Options:
Strongly disagree - 1
Disagree - 2
Agree - 3
Strongly agree - 4

6. Are you satisfied with this division of tasks?

7. Do you think your partner is satisfied with these division of tasks?

Response Options:
Unsatisfied - 0
Fairly satisfied - 1
Satisfied - 2
Very Satisfied - 3

8. When you were a child or teenager, did your father or another man in the house:

  • Prepare meals
  • Clean the house or compound
  • Wash clothes
  • Take care of you or your siblings

Response Options:
Never - 0
Hardly ever - 1
Sometimes - 2
Frequently - 3

9. When you were a child or teenager, were you taught how to:

  • Prepare meals
  • Clean the house or compound
  • Wash clothes
  • Take care of your siblings

Response Options:
Never - 0
Hardly ever - 1
Sometimes - 2
Frequently - 3

Interviewer: Now, I will ask you about your personal views. Please feel free to answer any way you like — there are no right or wrong answers.

10. If your wife had to spend less time on caring for people and domestic work what would she do with her extra time?

Response Options:
More leisure timesleeppersonal care - 1
More income-generating work - 2
More agriculture - 3
Provide better direct person care (e.g. children) - 4
Engage in community activities or social life - 5
Help neighboursfriends - 6
More educationtraining - 7
More religious activities - 8
Other: _________ - 9
I don’t know - 98

Scoring Procedures

Not Applicable

Original Citation

Oxfam WE-Care. (2014). Household Care Survey Questionnaire. https://wee.oxfam.org/page/we-care-methodology


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

Join the EMERGE Community

to get the latest updates on new measures and guidance for survey researchers