Home, alone

Context: A false hierarchy of gender and caste practices has devalued domestic and care work. The pandemic has only sharpened this inequality.

Status of domestic work in India: According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) time-use survey 2019

• Women spend nearly five hours every day on unpaid domestic work, compared to 98 minutes by men.
• Less than 6 % of Indian men are involved in cooking, compared to 75 % women.

Reasons for confining women to domestic work:

• Cultural Discourses:
  • Women’s identity is tightly held to the supervision of children and household work.
  • Glorification of domestic work: to pursue women to stay in domestic work.
  • Reluctance of men: to acquire the skill required for domestic work.
  • False hierarchy of gender and caste practices: It allows caste-privileged women and nearly all men to pass on this work to those from “lower castes” and the impoverished.
• Political discourse about women: majorly influenced by the underlying socio-cultural discourses.
  • Prescription of work-from-home (WFH): to enable women to do both office and family chores and to save them from molestation.
  • Suggestion by Supreme court Chief Justice to women farmers from Punjab to give up their space in democratic protests and return home, rather than bargain for their economic rights.
• Economic shocks affect women more than men: According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, women lost 49% of the jobs, while the men recovered during COVID-19.

Adverse consequences of confining women to domestic work:

• Low women’s labour force participation
• Career progress depends on domestic responsibilities: For those women who take up work outside the home, domestic responsibilities shape their choice of work and professional progress.
• Devaluation of their work: Thus leads to abysmal wages paid to domestic workers. E.g. evident in the struggle of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers.

Issues with  providing a salary for housework:

• Fundamental hierarchy of the patriarchal home remains unchallenged.
• No scope for negotiations: like bargaining for higher wages or exit her workplace. 
• Problem in determining a fair price: as the domestic work is consistently devalued.