{"id":63528,"date":"2026-01-06T19:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=63528"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:39:14","slug":"womens-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/06-01-2026\/womens-labour","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Labour &amp; Issues of Recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong><strong>GS2\/Social Justice; Vulnerable Section of Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women\u2019s labour remains vastly undercounted and undervalued, especially in unpaid care and domestic work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unpaid Care and Domestic Work: Invisible Backbone of the Economy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women disproportionately shoulder unpaid care and domestic work, which form the backbone of India\u2019s social and economic life, enabling the economy to function, but it remains<strong> neither monetized nor formally recognized.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to a <strong>United Nations report (2023), women spend 2.8 times more hours than men<\/strong> on unpaid care and domestic tasks globally.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It includes cooking, cleaning, caregiving, and other household responsibilities that are essential for the functioning of society but are rarely acknowledged in economic statistics or policy frameworks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>ILO <\/strong>estimated that redistributing unpaid care work could raise female labor participation in India to <strong>40% by 2030<\/strong>, contributing an additional <strong>USD 250 billion<\/strong> to GDP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indian Aspects of Unpaid Care and Domestic Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the<strong> MoSPI\u2019s <\/strong><strong><em>Time Use in India Report 2024<\/em><\/strong><strong>, women spend an average of 314 minutes (5.2 hours) daily<\/strong> on unpaid domestic and caregiving activities;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Men spend only 97 minutes<\/strong>, showing negligible improvement from the 2019 survey;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nearly <strong>82% of women<\/strong> aged 15\u201359 reported engaging in unpaid household work daily compared to <strong>27% of men<\/strong>\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>NITI Aayog 2025 Gender Index Report<\/strong> reaffirmed the above gap, noting that unpaid work accounts for <strong>63% of women\u2019s total working time<\/strong>, effectively limiting participation in paid employment and entrepreneurship.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to a <strong>2023 State Bank of India report,<\/strong> unpaid work in India contributes approximately \u20b922.7 lakh crore or about 7.5% of the country\u2019s GDP.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women spend <strong>about 36 hours per week<\/strong> on such tasks compared to <strong>just 16 hours for men.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Research indicates that enhancing women\u2019s participation in the labour force could boost India\u2019s GDP by as much as 27%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns &amp; Issues Surrounding Unpaid Care and Domestic Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Persistent Invisibility of Women\u2019s Work: <\/strong>Emotional and mental labour, vital for sustaining relationships and social harmony remains overlooked.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It underpins households and economies, but is <strong>absent from economic indicators and policy<\/strong>, reinforcing its invisibility despite its role in maintaining both production and social cohesion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Structural and Ideological Roots of Devaluation: <\/strong>The <strong>marginalisation of care work<\/strong> stems from entrenched economic ideologies.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The privileging of male breadwinner employment and the narrow focus on <strong>GDP growth<\/strong> as a measure of progress exclude care work from the sphere of \u2018productive\u2019 activity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investment in <strong>physical infrastructure like <\/strong>roads, industries, technology continues to eclipse investment in <strong>social infrastructure<\/strong>, such as childcare, elder care, and mental health services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gendered Division of Production and Reproduction: <\/strong>The <strong>biological aspects of reproduction<\/strong> have historically been used to conceal the <strong>social and economic dynamics<\/strong> of gendered labour division.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>separation of production (male-dominated)<\/strong> and <strong>social reproduction (female-dominated)<\/strong> entrenched women\u2019s subordination and rendered their contributions invisible.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This systematic exclusion of women\u2019s direct and indirect labour from formal recognition reflects a <strong>continuation of patriarchal economic thinking<\/strong>, where unpaid and emotional work is not seen as productive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Legislative Efforts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some countries have begun to institutionalise the recognition of unpaid labour:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bolivia\u2019s Constitution (Article 338)<\/strong> recognises domestic work as an economic activity that creates social welfare, entitling housewives to social security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trinidad and Tobago\u2019s Counting Unremunerated Work Act (1996)<\/strong> mandates the valuation and gender-based analysis of unpaid care work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Argentina<\/strong> grants <strong>pension credits<\/strong> to women for unpaid care work, recognising their role in raising children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, <strong>no existing framework<\/strong> fully acknowledges <strong>emotional and mental labour<\/strong>, which remains outside the purview of policy and compensation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Policy and Institutional Developments in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Ministry of Women and Child Development (2025)<\/strong>, under the revised <em>National Policy for Women<\/em>, proposed measures such as:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Developing a <strong>National Framework for Valuing Unpaid Care Work<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expansion of <strong>Anganwadi and cr\u00e8che services<\/strong> under the <em>Mission Shakti<\/em> initiative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incentivizing shared domestic responsibilities through awareness campaigns targeting men and youth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>NITI Aayog<\/strong>\u2019s <strong><em>Gender Budgeting Report 2025<\/em><\/strong> called for integrating time-use data into fiscal planning, marking the first time unpaid work was explicitly mentioned as an indicator of women\u2019s economic status in India\u2019s national gender framework.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Madras High Court, <\/strong>in 2023, acknowledged a wife\u2019s household duties as a contribution to the family\u2019s economic assets, granting her an <strong>equal share in property<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward: Pathways for Change<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Inclusion in GDP Accounting<\/strong>: Integrate unpaid labor metrics into national income accounts through MoSPI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender-Sensitive Labor Policies<\/strong>: Paid family leave, flexible hours, and caregiver tax credits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructure Investments<\/strong>: Public childcare, eldercare centers, and rural support networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Behavioral Shifts<\/strong>: Nationwide campaigns like <em>\u2018Share the Load 2.0\u2019<\/em> supported by the government and private sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Daily Mains Practice Question<\/strong><br><strong>[Q]<\/strong> Discuss the various forms of women\u2019s labour that remain unrecognized in economic and policy frameworks. Why is it important to acknowledge and value these contributions?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/the-struggle-to-count-womens-labour\/article70471325.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Daily-Editorial-Analysis-06-01-2026.pdf\"><strong>Download PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Published on:<\/strong> 06 January, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s labour remains vastly undercounted and undervalued, especially in unpaid care and domestic work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":63812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Editorial-Analysis-900-600-7.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63528"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63588,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63528\/revisions\/63588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}