Distribution of Effort: Physical Activity, Gender Roles, and Bargaining Power in an Agrarian Setting.

This article examines gender differences in physical effort by measuring physical activity through wearable accelerometers in a rural Malawian setting, using total energy expenditure normalized by basal metabolic rate as a proxy for physical effort. The study finds that women exert marginally higher overall physical effort than men, despite men spending more time in moderate-to-vigorous activities and women spending more time in light activities; women also spend less sedentary time. Importantly, within married couples, larger disparities in physical effort correlate with greater intrahousehold bargaining power imbalances, proxied by differences in age, land ownership, and a composite empowerment index, suggesting that gender disadvantage extends to physical exertion. The research highlights the novel use of accelerometer data combined with time-use diaries to capture both the intensity and allocation of effort, revealing nuanced intrahousehold dynamics not observable in traditional time-use studies.