On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the nonprofit organization ICUNR (Indian Council for UN Relations) held their flagship award ceremony honoring women achievers from diverse fields. The event also saw a Panel Discussion on the topic of the “Burden of Unpaid Labour”
The discussion was moderated by Dr Sanjukta Basu with expert inputs from the four panelists Ms Diane Jegam, Regional Director, South Asia, PROPARCO, Ms. Elena Barman, Founder and President, Indian Association of Russian Compatriots (IARC), Ms. Priya Hingorani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court and Ms Roopam Gupta, serial entrepreneur, Founder, Nuthin Official.
Dr Basu started the discussion by giving a brief intro to the topic.
Mainstream economic theories and market deliberations have always defined “work” as an activity which is produces something, goods or services, and is paid in terms of salary and other remuneration. The domestic work, mostly carried out by women, that of cooking, cleaning, caring for the sick and old, nursing for the children, giving sexual and reproductive labour to the family lineage which is coincidentally carried forward by the males, is not counted in the market economy or the GDP.
Feminists have long argued for a feminist economic theory which is not just concerned with the production and consumption of goods and services in the market but also include the household relations, unpaid care work as important part of national economy. It was economist Esther Boserup who first put focus on this aspect in the 1970s. Since then, more and more countries have put focus on formulating policies to value the unpaid care work. Even the sustainable development goals Target 5.4 seeks to recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work particularly in low and middle-income countries.
But has there been any change in how we as a society value the unpaid labour? According to a 2023 report by State Bank of India, the Unpaid work contributes approximately ₹22.7 lakh crore or about 7.5% of the India’s GDP. Majority of this work is done by women with no contribution from men. Time Use Survey, 2024 shows that 60.8% men engage in employment where as only 20.7% of women engage in employment. 27% of men engage in unpaid domestic services for household members and whereas 81.5% of women unpaid work. Men spend around 80 minutes per day in household work whereas women spend 289 minutes.
The numbers are evident that women’s unpaid labour is a burden or is it not? With this key question, the panellists were requested to share their views.
Ms Diane Jegam said that women must have financial independence and bargaining power for the unpaid burden of housework to be eased.
Ms. Elena Barma agreed that in Indian tradition, the household work tends to become a burden and compared the situation in Russia where men and women are treated far more equally. She gave the example of how young teenage girls in India are expected to take care of their younger brother but young boys are never entrusted with this task. She also said that Russian women who move to India due to marriage or other purposes have to adjust to a complete cultural shift.
Advocate Priya Hingorani brought to attention the Indian judiciary’s efforts to quantify and value the unpaid care work by women in cases of insurance claim. Ms. Roopa Gupta spoke from her own experiences how women are expected to do double shift both at home and work which creates a pressure on them.
The speakers agree that unpaid care work at home are still being largely done by men. There is need for a cultural shift in addition to financial empowerment and legal changes. We have to raise better sons. We have to stop thinking the girl-child as a burden.
Lastly, it is not enough to encourage girls to come out of their kitchens and go out in the world to pursue their dreams. It is also important to encourage the men to enter the kitchen and take up the traditional womanly tasks. Only then care work will cease to be a burden.
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