Nihalika Yadav
Time Use Survey highlights the gendered nature of domestic activities and
care work.
Last month the government of India released the time Use Survey for the year 2024 depicting
the amount of time spent by men and women on paid and unpaid activities. This is the second
such survey after the first one which was conducted in the year 2019.
The survey shows that women spent 201 minutes (3.5 hours) more than men per day in unpaid household work. Though the amount of time being spent by women on unpaid domestic activities has reduced from 299 minutes per day in 2019 to 289 minutes per day in 2024 but it does not present a very bright picture as it is the women only who bear the disproportionate burden of domestic activities including care work.
It also shows that women spent 137 minutes per day on caregiving duties whereas men spent
only 75 minutes per day for the same. The survey also revealed that 41% of women participated
in caregiving activities as compared to only 21.4% of men. It is still the women who are
spending more time on unpaid domestic work and caregiving activities depicting that the nature of care work within the households is gendered and patriarchy prevails.
Though the participation rate of men in unpaid activities has increased from 43.9% in 2019 to
45.8% in 2024 but this increase is not significant enough to bring about a change in the currentscenario wherein women bear most of the burden of these activities.
Major Challenges
The primary concern is that work done by women in their homes like childcare, elderly
healthcare, cooking, cleaning among other activities is often unrecognized and invisibilized by
the society when in fact it is this care work only which shoulders and sustains the households
and economies on a larger scale.
Even the Time Use Survey highlights that the social fabric of the country is such that women bear the burden of domestic work and unpaid care work. Hence addressing these gender biases is a challenge that needs to be dealt with.
According to the data provided by Ministry of Women and Child Development in March 2024,
the economic value of women’s unpaid domestic and care work in India falls between 15% to
17% of the GDP. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute (2015), it is estimated that India has the potential to increase its GDP by 60% if women’s labor force participation
increases. This can only be achieved when women get relieved of their household duties.
Apart from women being engaged in household chores and unpaid care work, care economy
also includes ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and domestic workers.
The major concern here is that of informalization leading to no social security benefits for care workers. They are not even recognized as workers in the eyes of the law. They face challenges like workplace harassment, meagre wages, minimal leaves, no or less institutional support.
ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers do not have fixed wages, they are given only an
honorarium when in fact they are overburdened with work, working for more than even eight
hours. In the case of domestic workers, they are under the total subjugation of their employers
wherein they do not have any recourse for justice as their employer employee relationship is
not covered under the law and hence leaving them more vulnerable to injustice.
Need for State Intervention and Way Forward
The Indian Sate has a major role to play in the effective functioning of the care economy and
this can be done by first of all acknowledging the value of care work along with inventing
better and efficient methods of computing women’s contribution to the GDP.
India spends less than 1% of its GDP on care economy which is a matter of concern. This year’s
union budget too saw a retreat from allocations to the social sector, childcare, elderly care and
allocations for Anganwadi workers as well. Schemes like Saksham Anganwadi, POSHAN 2.0,
Samarthya package of schemes, etc. did not see much increase in budgetary allocations. Gender budget exists but allocations for the same have to be made more transparent by ensuring that we have feedback mechanisms to check whether the funds have been used and what have been the outputs of the schemes.
Schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana aimed at reducing
women’s time in doing household chores but the time reduced is very less which does not offer
significant gains for women.
Investments and interventions by the State will ensure that women are not seen as the sole
stakeholders or beneficiaries of the schemes and policies, implying that childcare or healthcare is not solely a woman’s duty but a social responsibility which needs community intervention
as well.
Care economy needs to be institutionalized by formalizing care workers and recognizing them
as workers in the first place under the law. There is an urgent need for a State sponsored robust care work supporting infrastructure which could include extending creche facilities in the workplaces as currently these are limited only to enterprises with more than 50 employees as per Code on Social Security (2020), making paid paternity leaves mandatory for fathers to
ensure more participation of men in care work which would consequently degender the nature
of care work, ensuring dignified wages for care workers and following the labor standards for
enabling the care workers to lead a socially and legally protected life.
We can learn more from countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark wherein pro-family policies
are a huge State priority and care economy is given due importance. South Korea has
implemented policies to recognize and reward caregivers including financial incentives and
public recognition programs. Countries like Singapore, Philippines, Hongkong have Domestic
Workers’ Act which ensures that care workers are legally protected and can live a dignified life.
These interventions are also important for the safety of care receivers, especially the elderly
population.
Care economy is a growing sector which has immense employment opportunities as well.
According to the data given by the Indian government, by 2050, proportion of elderly persons
is expected to increase to 20.8% which is about 347 million persons. This raises demand of
more caregivers hence we need to heavily invest in care economy wherein apart from
employing more care workers, we can even engage the elderly in age-appropriate work to make them feel worthy and included.
Lancet Public Health Survey contextualizes the impact of unpaid labor on mental health. Doing care work is a laborious and exhausting task which impacts women’s health tremendously, implying that women need more leisure time for themselves and that load must be shared by men too.
are work too is affected by the socio-economic realities like caste, class and gender
hierarchies; hence policies need to be framed while considering these factors as well. The task
of nursing in hospitals is done by nurses, ward boys and maternity attendants who are mostly
Dalits. This work is considered “dirty” and these workers face humiliation. Thus, civil society
organizations too have a role to play here in addressing these biases.
The aim is to recognize care work, degender it by engaging more men in doing care work,
freeing women’s time from doing unpaid care work and participate more in employment as
only then shall come true the dream of a Vikasit Bharat.
References
Magazine, A. (2025). Females spent more than 201 mins more than males per day in unpaid household work: Time Use Survey 2024. Retrieved on February 28, 2025, from
https://indianexpress.com/article/business/females-unpaid-household-work-males-survey9856661/
Ahmed, N., Sinha, D., Mehta, A.K., Mitra, S. & Dasgupta, J. (2025). Women short-changed once again: A gender lens on the Union Budget 2025-2026. Retrieved on February 27, 2025, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/women-short-changed-once-again-a-genderlens-on-the-union-budget-2025-2026/
Formulating a Strategy for India’s Care Economy: Unlocking OpportuniƟes. (2024). Press Information Bureau. (March, 2024). Retrieved on November 10, 2024, from –https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2024/mar/doc2024353101.
pdf
Sen, R. & Rajeev, A. Recognising Care Work(ers): A Feminist Legal ExaminaƟon of ASHAs. Retrieved on January 17, 2025 from https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/26-27/review-womensstudies/recognising-care-workers.html
The Third Eye. February 6, 2025 (originally published on April 19, 2021). Neoliberalism, Caste System, & Healthcare: Exploring Nursing Homes with Panchali Ray. Available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otH41CZ7cTg
NDTV. March 27, 2024. Indian Economy| Women, Work, And , Economy : The Future of Care Economy. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYb2PCABKMA&t=13
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
About the Author: Nihalika Yadav, fellow at YWLPPF 2.0
Aspirant( preparing for civil services)
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Acknowledgment: This article was posted by Saniya Verma, a research intern at IMPRI.
