WOMEN AND DOMESTIC WORK IN INDIA: HIDDEN LABOUR, EVERYDAY CHALLENGES AND THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION

Abstract

Domestic work is essential to the well-being of households and to the functioning of the wider economy, yet it remains undervalued because it is widely treated as women's natural responsibility rather than as labour. This paper examines two connected forms of domestic work in India: unpaid household and care work performed by women in their own homes, and paid domestic work performed in the homes of others. Using a qualitative, analytical review of national time-use statistics, International Labour Organization reports, recent legal developments and sociological research, it analyses the gender norms, economic inequalities and employment conditions that shape women's experiences in both settings. Time Use Survey data show that in 2024, 81.5 per cent of women aged six and above performed unpaid domestic services on a given day, compared with 27.1 per cent of men, and that participating women spent 289 minutes a day on these tasks against 88 minutes for men, a gap that has barely narrowed since 2019. Studies of paid domestic workers document widespread informality, the absence of written contracts and social security, harassment and caste-based discrimination. Drawing on feminist theories of social reproduction and the "5R" framework for care work, the paper argues that women face a double burden of unpaid work at home and poorly protected paid work. It concludes that recognising domestic work as work, reducing its drudgery through public services, redistributing it within households, and ensuring fair rewards and representation for paid domestic workers are central to gender equality and social justice.