Home, alone

The Indian Express     23rd January 2021     Save    

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.