Women's burden of unpaid care work and the power of public services

Abstract

Women make up 50 per cent of India’s population but less than a quarter of them are in the workforce with three in every four women not working. Falling female labour force participation has emerged as a worrying trend within policy circles in India. Studies show a multiplicity of reasons for women leaving the workforce: lack of decent jobs, regressive social norms that prevent women from stepping out of the home and higher enrolment of girls in education– although that phenomenon is offset by the fact that unemployment rates among educated women are highest in the country. Underlying all these reasons is the role of patriarchy which determines an unequal division of labour between men and women. Unpaid care work, which forms the backbone of economic and social reproduction, is unfairly borne by women only. Recent studies also show that women’s care duties have increased manifold and are a principal reason why women are dropping out of the labour force because of the paucity of time and opportunity. Effective and efficient public services and infrastructure have positive effects on women’s excessive burden of care responsibilities. Recently, the Government of India introduced certain public service measures namely the National Rural Drinking Water Programme and the Ujjwala (clean cooking gas) scheme which are specifically targeted at women. A recent study done by Oxfam India shows strong positive results in terms of these programmes easing women’s unpaid care and domestic work burden and allowing them more time to undertake paid work. However, the study also found huge implementation and accessibility challenges because of which many more women are not being able to reap the benefits of these programmes. This chapter explores the effects and challenges of public service programmes in alleviating women’s unpaid care work burden.