Physical activity of poor urban women in Cali, Colombia: A comparison of working and not working women

We have previously presented evidence that the physical activity level (PAL) and total energy expenditure (per kg body weight) of poor urban women who "work" (engage in income-earning activities) is similar to those who do not "work" (but do tend to household and childcare responsibilities) (Spurr et al. [19961 Am J Clin Nutr 63:870-878; [1997] Med Sci Sports Exerc 29:1255-1262). These findings were unexpected and raised questions regarding the actual types of activities engaged in by the two groups. In this article we address those questions by comparing the time allocation of the two groups. Time allocation during waking hours (14-2 +/- 1.1 hours/day) was recorded in minute-by-minute diaries by trained observers for two consecutive days for 52 working women and 28 not-working women. The working women were engaged in predominately informal sector economic activities, such as street vending, childcare, and domestic service, m addition to their own household and childcare responsibilities. The activities of the not-working women were largely restricted to household and childcare responsibilities. The working women tended to spend less time in resting activities and TV-watching and more time in travel and miscellaneous work activities, but other between-group differences were not significant. We conclude that the time allocation of working women is similar to that of not-working women because 1) many of the activities engaged in are the same or similar, and 2) some working women are only engaged in income-earning activities for limited time periods. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.