Addressing Gender Inequities in Care Work

Syllabus: GS2/Social Justice; Vulnerable Section of Society

Context

• Care work is often undervalued and disproportionately carried by women, reinforcing long-standing gender inequities, despite remaining a cornerstone of social and economic well-being.

About the Care Work

• Care work — both paid and unpaid — encompasses childcare, elder care, healthcare, and domestic work, forming the backbone of social and economic stability.
• Globally, women spend significantly more time than men on unpaid care work—household chores, childcare, elder care, and community service.
• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), women carry out over three times as much unpaid care work as men, limiting their opportunities for career advancement and economic independence.
  • It fuels gender gaps in workforce participation and earnings.

Need For Care Ecosystem in India

• Rising Care Deficit: India’s elderly population (60+ years) aims to reach 227 million by 2036, many requiring continuous physical, emotional, and medical support.
  • Meanwhile, traditional family support systems are weakening due to urbanisation, and women continue to bear the brunt of caregiving — often sacrificing their own economic potential and wellbeing.
• Unpaid Care Work: Most care work in India is unpaid and performed by women. According to Time Use Surveys (2019, 2024), Indian women spend nearly 10 times more time than men on unpaid domestic tasks.
  • SBI Research (2023) estimated women’s unpaid care work at ₹22.7 lakh crore, highlighting its immense but unacknowledged economic value.
• Growing Demand for Care Services: India’s aging population is projected to reach 20 crore by 2031, with nearly 20% of the total population expected to be elderly by 2050.
  • It underscores the need for specialized elder care services, including dementia care, assisted living, and home-based healthcare.

Concerns: Engendered Care Services in India

• Size and Structure Paid Care Work: India’s paid care sector employs around 36 million people, with women comprising 56.6% of this workforce.
  • However, more than 99% of personal care jobs are informal, with poor working conditions and limited legal protections.
  • Marginalised communities, including SCs, STs, and OBCs, make up over two-thirds of the care workforce, reflecting deeply rooted structural inequities.
• Precarity and Gender Wage Gaps: While 88.7% of paid care workers are ‘regularly employed’, job security is rare — especially in the unorganised sector, which employs 43% of care workers.
  • Even within the organised sector, over 41% of jobs lack formal contracts.
  • The gender wage gap among self-employed care workers is a staggering 61%.
• Systemic Barriers to Gender Equity:
  • Occupational Segregation: Women are clustered in lower-status care roles.
  • Gender Norms: Social expectations confine women to unpaid caregiving.
  • Limited Education & Training: Many women lack access to skills that enable transition to better-paid roles.
  • Burden of Unpaid Work: Time spent on unpaid care limits women’s labour force participation and career progression.

Policy Roadmap for a Stronger Care Work Economy

• Recognise and Measure Unpaid Care Work: Expand Time Use Surveys, and launch dedicated national surveys to account for unpaid care in policymaking and economic data.
• Invest in Public Care Infrastructure: Build affordable childcare, eldercare, and community health facilities, and improve water and sanitation services to reduce care burdens.
• Redistribute Care within Households: Promote shared caregiving through paid parental and eldercare leave, and campaigning to shift norms around gender and caregiving.
• Formalise and Protect Paid Care Work: Recognise care work as skilled labour, provide fair wages, legal contracts, and social protections, and offer skill development and upskilling for women in care sectors.
• Close Gender Gaps: Enforce equal pay for equal work, facilitate women’s entry into higher-paid, supervisory care roles, and expand access to adult education and vocational training.
• Plan for Future Care Needs: Project care demands linked to demographic changes, align training and employment policies accordingly, and encourage Public-Private Partnerships and CSR investments in care services.
• Build Inclusive Collaboration: Engage government, civil society, private sector, and communities in care system reforms.

Related Government Initiatives

• National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE): It aims to provide accessible healthcare services for senior citizens, integrating primary, secondary, and tertiary care.
• Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY): It offers financial protection for medical expenses, benefiting caregivers and families.
• National Health Mission (NHM): Supports healthcare infrastructure, including maternal and child health services, which are crucial for care work.
• Women and Child Development Programs: Various schemes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development focus on childcare, nutrition, and support for caregivers.

Conclusion

• Care work is central to a functioning economy and a just society. India needs to bring care work to the policy forefront—recognizing it, redistributing it, and rewarding it, to bridge the gender divide in economic opportunity.

Source: BL