Men’s and women’s time-use in relation to wellbeing is well-investigated and understood
within the context of the developed world. There has been limited research into the gendered
experiences of time-use and three dimensional (3D) wellbeing in rural communities of subSaharan
Africa and particularly so in semi-arid areas. As a result, failure to appreciate how
time-use and wellbeing are experienced by the rural population in semi-arid areas impedes a
full understanding of how rural inhabitants spend their time and how this makes them worse
off or better off in different aspects of their wellbeing. This subsequently challenges the
appropriateness of efforts to improve the lived experience of rural inhabitants. The study aimed
to make a contribution to the knowledge gap on time-use and wellbeing by assessing how timeuse
relates to the experiences of material, subjective and relational aspects of wellbeing in a
semi-arid area. It hypothesised that if men and women who are household-heads spend their
time-use differently this has implications on their experiences of material, subjective and
relational wellbeing.
The study adopted a quantitative approach to primary data collection, analysis and
interpretation of results. A questionnaire survey consisting of 93 randomly selected male and
female headed households was conducted using stratified sampling techniques. Data was
analysed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software including regression analysis and statistical
tests (Mann Witney U test) from which descriptive and statistical results were presented in
tables and graphs following regression analysis. The study yielded several findings including
the importance of personal care for improved subjective wellbeing despite the trade-off with
material wellbeing; the importance of age and social grants for ensuring a better experience of
material wellbeing; the importance of social connections particularly for widows and
widowers; as well as the significance of time spent on leisure and work-outside for improving
relational wellbeing. In addition, women’s disproportionally high time spent on domestic work
leaves them feeling subjectively worse-off while the persistence of traditional gender role
division seems to have a determining effect on the time-use and wellbeing experiences of
household-heads in the study area. Overall, the study highlights time-use related opportunities
and constraints for improving the wellbeing of rural inhabitants in Onesi, Namibia.