Even among women, this work is unequally divided. Widowed women, finds the ILO, spend the most time (122 minutes a day), divorced women the least (87 minutes a day). But in every category, women spend far more time than men.
Economic status and educational attainment is not a buffer. In India, the decline in female labour force participation is highest among both illiterates and postgraduates. Workforce participation among women graduates fell by eight percentage points between 1993 and 2011, found a 2017 World Bank report.
The first bump comes with marriage, says Farzana Afridi, an associate professor with the Indian Statistical Institute. In 2011, half of all unmarried women aged 15-60 were in the labour force compared to just 20% for married women.
The second bump is motherhood. Having just one child affects women’s paid employment: In 2011, 23.6% of those with no kids were employed, just 16.1% for those with one child below six, finds a 2017 World Bank paper, The Motherhood Penalty.
For things to change, unpaid care work must be recognised as a common good by societies and governments. This does not mean that women get paid to cook and clean, but more the recognition that the work they do is valuable — if you were to put a figure to it, then $10 trillion of output every year, 13% of the global GDP, found a 2015 report by the McKinsey Global Institute.
The second is an effort to bridge the gap in care work. With girls’ rising aspiration and educational attainment, it cannot be business-as-usual. Boys have to be brought to understand that being fed and looked-after is not a lifetime entitlement, and they too must shoulder some of the burden.
A good place to start the gender revolution is in the kitchen. Get the boys in.
Published in Hindustan Times on January 24, 2020