_Source_ : Author’s tabulations using the Encuesta de Hogares de Propósitos Múltiples 2015 (EHPM).

_Notes:_ Numbers represent the distribution of women's employment outcomes conditional on their spouse's (column percentage). The category "Other" includes wage employment, domestic work, and unemployment. The following outcomes for men were not included due to small sample size: public sector wage employment, unpaid status, unemployment, and inactive. This analysis is limited to households with a male head and a female spouse present. They represent 67 percent of households and 73 percent of working-age individuals in the rural sector.

The use of proxy respondents can also elicit biased responses since they do not always provide accurate information for the other household members, which can result in an underestimation of women’s participation in work activities (Dixon 1982; Shah 1985; Rives and Yousefi 1997; Franck and Olsson 2014; Bardasi et al 2011). In the case of the 2015 household survey in Honduras, however, men and women report female participation at the same rates.

In 2015 few Honduran women in the rural sector reported being employed with most reporting being out of the labor force. From analyzing the household survey, several hypotheses can be drawn to explain this. First, intensity of household tasks is likely very high limiting the extent to which women can engage in activities outside the home. Second, it is likely that agricultural activities performed by women are not being accurately captured by the survey. In fact, some of these may be considered household tasks. This is further supported by the observation that women are particularly unlikely to report being in the labor force if they live with a husband who has an agricultural enterprise. Third, the lack of difference by gender of respondent suggests that both men and women are inaccurately reporting activities of women.

# **Methodology**

To better understand female employment and economic activity in rural areas and how well this is measured in the household survey, qualitative research consisting of a mix of individual in-depth interviews (IDI) and focus group discussions (FGD) was conducted.

In all cases, the interviews began with the same questions used by the official household survey to measure employment. The first question was "During the past week, did you dedicate an hour or more to any work or activity with payment in cash or in kind, or did you get any income? (except housework)." The second was “During the past week, did you perform or help carry out any work, with relatives or individuals, without pay? (Except housework).”<sup>12</sup> These were then followed by a series of open questions to better understand the day to day activities of participants, the participants’ views of work, employment, contributions to household tasks and agriculture activities. The discussion was designed to cover the following topics:

- a) What are all activities (paid and unpaid) carried out by women and men in the community, including:

- Agricultural processes in all parts of its value chain, both subsistence and agricultural activity oriented to the market

- Wage jobs

- Activities carried out at home or outside destined to generate income (micro or small informal businesses/self-employment)

- Domestic service and production activities carried out in their homes for own use

12 In Spanish: “1. Durante la semana pasada ¿dedicó una hora o más a algún trabajo o actividad con pago en dinero o en especie, u obtuvo algún ingreso? (Excepto quehaceres del hogar)” and “2. Durante la semana pasada ¿realizó o ayudó a realizar algún trabajo, con familiares o particulares, sin pago? (Excepto quehaceres del hogar)” 9