LABOR 



87 



The class of activities labeled "Personal and 

 Social" (tal)le 18) attempts to eateh all other non- 

 productive activities. Although each figure is the 

 result of close calculation on the basis both of case 

 materials and general impressions, some are 

 subject to greater error than others. "^^ The first 

 item assumes that a woman spends al)out 2 hours 

 a week on personal hygiene, a man hut an hour, 

 because women wash and dress their hair fre- 

 quently, and bathe more often in the sweat l)atli — 

 a time-consuming operation. In the matter of 

 sickness, I was reduced to pretty rough calcula- 

 tions, assuming that on the average everybody is 

 sick at home or in bed 2 days a year; that nursing 

 (chiefly by women) takes an average of '.i hours a 

 day from other activities; and that in each of the 

 200 cases that a shanum is called, a day's time is 

 lost to call for and accompany him. 



That in each of the 74 cases of births the woman 

 loses an average of 10 days' time is probably a 

 sound statement, for the lying-in period is recog- 

 nized and I have a number of cases in my notes. 

 That in each case a father — to call the midwife, 

 assist her, and register the birtli, etc. — loses 2 

 days, is not nearly as certain. In the matter of 

 baptism, it is assumed on the basis of a few cases 

 that the parents each lose a day and the sponsor 

 a half day. In the estimated five eases of mar- 

 riage, consequently five "askings" and courtships, 

 it is calculated that both sets of parents, and the 

 principals, each lose 24 hours, and that six other 

 men and women each lose 6 hours. 



Tlie time that funerals cost is based on knowl- 

 edge of customary differences when adults, 

 children, and infants die. It is supposed that the 

 people of the family (on the average a man, 

 woman, and two children) each lose 3 days at the 

 death of an adult, 2 at that of a child, and 1 at the 

 death of an infant; and that (on the average) five 

 other men and five other women lose 2, 1, and a 

 half day, respectively, in such cases. 



Only general observation and more scattered 

 cases are the ])asis of the other figures; yet it 

 seems to me, wholly unlikely that the totals of 

 table 18 are off more than about 20 percent. 



Chart LO omits sleeping-eating time, and tiiat 



T.\Bi,E 18. — Personal and surial aclivilies 



•' And SdniPtiiiies crfiUfr error than woiiM have been thp rase lui'J I known 

 I wasgoinp to u.sc Ihe data in this iiianiicr. For example, I dici not f^elolhcial 

 data on attendance in scliool whirh would have been available, and which 

 might have been more aeeurate than my cxtrai)olati()ns. 



Activity 



liathing. hair washing. hyRiene, etc_ . . , . 



Sidcness: patients' and nursinR time 



Childbirth: family's time ..__._ 



nai)tisms: parents' and sponsors' time... 



Care ot infants: feeding, etc 



School atlentlance 



Conrtship and marriage - 



Fnnerals . _ 



Noncommercial fiesta-celebration and 



Sunday and holiday rest by private 



persons . . _ 



Informal visiting, gossiping, drinking on 



no special occasion 



Formal visits, gift bearing not included 



elsewhere, . __ . . 

 Fighting, (luarreling; time in court and 



jail and worrying - , - 



Business errands -- 



Hainy days when no work in house; 



caught on road, etc 



Number of 9-hour days in year 



Total 



Total. 



(.917 



2, :tiil 



1.0.V2 



l.';4 



4,287 



6,0110 



1 110 



»:i2 



3,385 



ri70 



22.'; 



200 

 200 



Men 



1.405 



818 



14S 



77 



60 

 3ti9 



1,400 

 250 

 100 



too 



l.'iO 



5,567 



Worn- 



3.022 



1.184 



904 



77 



4,287 



50 



369 



1.250 



270 



100 



100 

 50 



250 



11,913 



Chil- 

 dren 



490 

 359 



i,000 

 "94 



735 

 150 

 25 



100 

 ,953 



unaccounted for, to show that 87.7 percent of all 

 the time availabhi to the commimity is devoted in 

 one mariner or other to getting a living. Descrip- 

 tion of how this time is used necessarily involves 

 differences associated with sex and age because 

 (for example) the 87.7 percent in chart 15 hides a 

 difference between men (88.2 percent), women 

 (81.8 percent), and children ((50.2 percent) which 

 becomes more and more significant as the cate- 

 gories are broken down. "^Phus, for instant^e, men 

 devote 80 percent of their usable time to gainful 

 employment and commercial production, but 

 women only 28.0 percent and children a trifle less. 

 The women meanwhile spend their time on cook- 

 ing, laundering, and the making of clothing. 



Chart 16 therefore, confined to the distribution 

 of time devoted to economic activities, distin- 

 guishes the use of time by sex and age. 



Agricidlure (the techniques of which are dis- 

 cussed on pages 47 to .57 and the business as{)ects 

 on pages 108 to 1;J2) is obviously (he only real 

 source of livelihood; (^specially since tli fee-fourths 

 of the hdxu' done for jjadinos is agricultiirtil labor 

 and most of llic miirketiiig involves nuirketing 

 of home-grown agricultural j)i'odiice. Tiiblc 19 

 shows how the time was dividtvl hetwciMi dilfereiit 

 (■I'ops ami iuiiiiials grow II by Indians. In contrast 

 a miiiiscnle .^OO days, iiicl tiding I a of women aiul 1 ")5 

 of children, is s])eiil on liiintiiig, fishing, and the 

 like. 



Women s|)end 51 percent: of their time in house- 

 hold tasks, and ;in iidtlitioual 5.5 percent in 

 weaving, sewmg, ami repairing clothing; house 



