Unpaid care and house work is in the news, and it’s a good time to revisit everything we know about the true cost of the work that women undertake at home. Tap the link in bio to read about the economics of unpaid labour from The Swaddle’s archives.

Unpaid Labor Takes a Toll on Employed Women’s Mental Health, Shows Study

Employed women are in a double bind: they engage with paid work in the form of jobs while also shouldering the responsibility of unpaid labor, in the form of housework and childcare. The two forms of unrecognized labor extract a heavy mental toll on women whose access to healthcare is already restricted, according to a recent analysis.

Balancing work and family obligations is thought to be the moral imperative for women. The review, published in Lancet Public Health, “confirms persistent inequities in the division of unpaid work,” and these inequities “expose women to greater risk of poorer mental health than men.” This is the first analysis of its kind to contextualize the impact of unpaid labor on mental health, especially for women who already face the stressors of the modern workforce. Importantly, it highlights how women’s participation in the paid workforce is laden with obstacles that constantly undermine it — and how the battle doesn’t end there. Unpaid labor remains an echo of inequality, one that is yet to be concretely addressed in terms of normative, policy, or structural changes.

Spanish Court Orders Man to Pay Ex‑Wife 200,000 Euros for 25 Years of Unpaid Labor

A Spanish court last year ordered a man to pay his ex-wife compensation of more than 200,000 Euros for her 25 years of unpaid domestic labor during their marriage, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. The court arrived at the figure based on the minimum wage for each year the couple spent together. The sentence, reported on the eve of International Women’s Day, reignited conversations about unpaid domestic labor, and whether it should be monetarily compensated.

The responsibility of domestic work often falls disproportionately on women. According to statistics based on an Oxfam India 2020 report, women in urban India spend four hours more than men on housework each day. A 2018 report by the International Labor Organization further notes that Indian women spend 352 minutes — almost six hours — a day on unpaid work, whereas men only spend about 51.8 minutes on average. Globally, the report indicates, women account for 76.2% of total hours of unpaid care work. In Asia-Pacific, this number increases to 80%.

These numbers highlight how women are not only disproportionately burdened with the responsibility of carrying out domestic labor, but also how it often leads to time poverty — the scarcity of time to pursue any other substantial hobby, interests, or paid work. When a large part of this work remains unpaid, women are not only left without compensation, but also without formal recognition for the hours they put in running the household and ensuring all its members’ well-being.

TN Political Party Proposes Salary for Home‑Makers’ “Unrecognized” Work As Part of Economic Agenda

In 2020, a Tamil Nadu-based political party — Makkal Needhi Maiam (MKM) — planned to set up a salary for home-makers as part of its economic agenda if elected. The party, helmed by film personality Kamal Hassan, made this policy proposal public via an announcement of a seven point governance and economic agenda on Monday.

According to the agenda, the party states, “Homemakers will get their due recognition through payment for their work at home which hitherto has been unrecognised and unmonetized, thus raising the dignity of our womenfolk.”

“Ninety percent of their work goes unnoticed despite it being a significant contribution. We still have to work out exactly what amount will be given to them as compensation but we are confident this can be done,” Hassan told The News Minute. “Every year, the [current ruling party] AIADMK government gives families Rs 2,500 but this money is either spent as [state-run alcohol shops] TASMACs or for other expenses by men. We are looking to directly pay women a monthly amount that they can save and use at a time of crisis,” he adds

Only 26% of Indian Men Do Any Kind of Housework, Finds National Survey

A 2020 nationwide survey of time use laid bare the unequal gender distribution of unpaid household labor in Indian households.

While women spend 84% of their day on unpaid activities, men spend 80% of theirs on paid work. In addition, only 26% of men reported doing any kind of housework. Of those, 8% of men reported participating in house cleaning for any length of time, and just 6% reported participating in cooking for any length of time. Some of the other activities recognized as housework include home decor and repair, pet care, shopping for the household, and more.

The pre-lockdown socio-economic survey, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office between January and December 2019, was published this month. The primary objective of the survey was “to measure participation of men, women, and other groups of persons in paid and unpaid activities.” To do so, they surveyed a nationally representative sample of around 450,000 people and 140,000 households.

The survey was conducted across all states, except the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While the unequal distribution of unpaid housework between men and women persisted in each of the states surveyed, Haryana was found to be the most gender-unequal state: while men in this state reported doing the least housework — just 15 minutes a day — women there reported spending 269 minutes each day doing unpaid housework. Men in Nagaland and Goa report spending the most time on housework — but no more than 47 minutes each day.

SC Quantifies Economic Value of Homemaker’s Work in Landmark Judgment, Awards Additional Rs. 11.2 Lakhs

In 2021, India’s Supreme Court delivered a crucial judgment that progressively informed our notions of homemakers’ work, sacrifice, and subsequently the economic value of both. In an insurance dispute case that sought to put a number on how much the heirs of a deceased couple should be compensated — a decision largely based on their income, among other considerations — a three-judge bench in the Supreme Court included a “notional income” for the deceased woman, who was a homemaker.

The bench said even if the homemaker didn’t receive an income for her work, it still had economic value, which should be calculated in such cases. After a High Court sought to reduce the compensation the victims’ relatives would receive, the Supreme Court increased the amount awarded to the claimants by Rs. 11.20 lakhs, reaching a sum total of Rs. 33.20 lakhs.

In delivering the judgment, the judges noted how 159.85 million women in India, according to a 2011 census, state “household work” as their main occupation. Opining on their ruling, they added, “The sheer amount of time and effort that is dedicated to household work by individuals, who are more likely to be women than men, is not surprising when one considers the plethora of activities a house maker undertakes. A house maker often prepares food for the entire family, manages the procurement of groceries and other household shopping needs, cleans and manages the house and its surroundings, undertakes decoration, repairs and maintenance work, looks after the needs of the children and any aged member of the household, manages budgets and so much more. In rural households, they often also assist in the sowing, harvesting and transplanting activities in the field, apart from tending cattle.”