As per the OECD definition, Unpaid work refers to the production of goods or services that are consumed by those within or outside a household, but not for sale in the market. It is widely recognized that women perform the bulk of unpaid work in households and even in paid labour force. This work is often socially, politically, and economically devalued because “work” is often defined in conventional statistics as paid activities linked to the market.
- The Women’s unpaid domestic work, is the ‘hidden engine’ that keeps economies, businesses and societies running and contributes significantly to individual well-being.
- While this work is foundational for societies, it is mostly invisible, undervalued and unaccounted worldwide.
- The ILO estimates that if such services were to be valued on the basis of an hourly minimum wage, they would amount to 9 per cent of global GDP.
- The importance of unpaid care work in addressing gender issues is delineated under the Sustainable Development Goal 5.
- despite an increase in the time spent for everyone on unpaid work, the burden has increased more for women
- The term unpaid work, as given by the International Labour Organization, is the ‘non-remunerated work carried out to sustain the well-being and maintenance of other individuals in a household or the community, and it includes both direct and indirect care (i.e. routine housework)’.
- The ILO estimates show that time spent in unpaid work accounted for ‘16.4 billion hours per day, with women contributing more than three-fourths of the total’ which is ‘equivalent to 2.0 billion people working on a full-time basis without pay’.
- In India, women spend an average of 351.9 min/day on unpaid work as compared to an average of 51.8 min/day by men.
- In addition, data show that time spent on total paid and unpaid work by women in India is 536.6 min/day as compared to an average of 442.3 min/day being spent by men.
- This implies that for women engaged in paid employment, the drudgery of unpaid work is so high that they work longer than men.
- the 2019 National Statistical office survey that states 92% women in India take part in unpaid domestic work in homes in comparison to 27% of men.
- Marriage and domestic arrangements still remain deeply caste endogamy-based or arranged despite processes of urbanisation or more mobility for work purposes.
- Low divorce rates do not necessarily indicate happy marriages, but rather the deep economic and social pressures which create the inability to leave a marriage.
- For women, it is connected as much with stigma as with economic insecurity and the absence of housing if parents are unwelcoming.
- Equal sharing of domestic responsibilities remains a far cry in most households and women still continue to bear the burden of child and elder care, caring for the sick and the disabled, besides cooking, cleaning or gathering.
- India has slipped 28 places to rank 140th among 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021.
- Among the drivers of this decline is a decrease in women’s labour force participation rate.
- It also estimated that earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s.
- According to an ILO report, unpaid care work is the main barrier preventing women from getting into and progressing in the labour force.
- A major challenge on the economic front is getting more women into the formal workforce
- Balancing paid and unpaid work obligations is taxing on women. Reports of increased stress levels are not uncommon.
- In fact, women report higher levels of symptoms related to depression and anxiety, including low life satisfaction and subjective well-being.
- As women increase their paid work time, they do not achieve a corresponding reduction in their unpaid work hours. Nor have men increased their share of unpaid work at the same rate that women have increased their share of paid work.
- The Human Development Report of 2015 reports that, in 63 countries, 31 percent of women’s time is spent doing unpaid work, as compared to men who dedicate only 10 percent of their time to unpaid work.
- The double-burden is intensified when women are subjected to poverty and live in communities that lack basic infrastructure.
- In areas that lack easy access to food and water, household duties are even more time consuming.
- More than 90% of Indian women participated in unpaid domestic work at home in 2019 compared to 27% of men. On the other hand, only 22% of women participated in employment and related activities compared to 71% of men.
- The time use survey shows that the average Indian woman spends 19.5 percent of her time every day in unpaid work including housework and caregiving as compared to just 2.5 percent of time spent by men.
- They also do over three times the amount of childcare as men.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately increased the time women spend on family responsibilities, by nearly 30 percent in India.
- The first step in addressing the inequalities in unpaid care work is to recognise its value.
- This requires data and more data will make more unpaid care work visible and help frame targeted policies.
- Reducing unpaid care work by investment in physical infrastructure like clean water and sanitation, energy and public transport, and in social infrastructure such as care and health services and education.
- Redistribution of care work between men and women, and between families.
- Investments in and expansion of care services for children and childhood education, for example generate jobs, of which many could be taken up by women.
- More equitable childcare and maternity policies could help reduce the ‘motherhood penalty’.
- Policies should address the rising need for care and tackle the huge disparity between women’s and men’s care responsibilities.
- Existing patriarchal norms pose a significant constraint to the take-up of public or market services.
- Addressing the issue of childcare and flexible work could help initiate positive social norms that encourage the redistribution of unpaid care and domestic work burden.
- A huge spectrum of women’s skilled but unpaid work contributes directly to the economy. Yet, its devaluation by not being accounted for ‘work’ weakens women’s status, leading to their vulnerability.
- Sharing the responsibilities of childcare can be difficult in a culture where parental leave is given only to the mother.
- This further reinforces the notion that unpaid care work is the sole responsibility of the women.
- The government has a crucial role to play in promoting gender equality by ensuring equality of opportunity in public services.
- However, these solutions will have a limited impact unless the behavioural change of each and every individual is targeted.
