The enduring debate over unpaid labour

Debate over the measurement of unpaid work - and hence over the underestimation of women's work in labour force and national accounting statistics - is not new. The author summarizes the main theoretical and practical issues addressed over many years, and describes the progress made on conceptual, theoretical and methodological aspects of the question. as well as new issues. And she responds to three types of continuing critique: that the efforts make no useful impact; that unpaid work is qualitatively different from market work and should not be treated in the same way; and that the efforts are theoretically misguided.