Basic Income and Patriarchy

Context: Recently Kamal Hasan’s party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, promised salaries to housewives during the electoral campaign in Tamil Nadu. This has re-sparked the debate over monetizing the household work.

Progress related to the recognition of domestic work:

• Demands for wages: was first raised in the Third National Women’s Liberation conference in England.
  • International Wages for Housework Campaign (IWFHC) was formed by Selma James in 1972.
• Aspiration for recognition: National Housewives Association sought recognition as a trade union in 2010 but was rejected on the ground that housework is not a trade or an industry.
  • In 2012, the government was considering to mandate a salary for housework to wives.

Arguments in favour of providing a salary for domestic work:

• Empowering women: Monetising the domestic services will enhance their power and autonomy and create near-universal basic income. It will recognize the value of unpaid work.
• A possible check against domestic violence: As economically dependent women are more prone to domestic violence.
• Bridge the gender gap: Time-use data from 2019 revealed that only about 25% of men and boys above six years engaged in unpaid household chores, compared to over 75% of women.

Arguments against providing a salary for domestic work:

• Could enhance a sense of entitlement for men - if they pay for wives’ domestic work.
• Put the additional onus on women - to perform.
• Risk of hurting patriarchal Indian family: where men are considered as “providers” in the relationship. 
• May amount to the commodification of housework and personal care.

Way Forward: Alternatives to salary for housework -

• Provide equal inheritance rights: which is not being realized despite having legal provisions in place.
• Strengthen implementation of existing provisions: E.g. Right to reside in the marital home, streedhan and haq meher, coparcenary and inheritance rights as daughters and to basic services, free legal aid and maintenance in instances of violence and divorce.
• Help women to reach their full potential: Through quality education and opportunities to work, gender-sensitive and harassment-free workplaces and behaviour change within families to make household chores more participative.