India's Care Economy: Safekeeping the Safekeepers

CARE ECONOMY IN INDIA
-Safekeeping the safekeepers-
SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT (2021)

by
MONALI GUPTA
Under the guidance of

Dr. Sayak Bhattacharya
Director, Centre for National Policy Research
June 2021
Photo source: Google images

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this project report entitled “Care Economy in India- Safekeeping the Safekeepers”
submitted to Centre for National Policy Research, is a bonafide record of work done by Monali Gupta
under my supervision from 15 May, 2021 to 30 June, 2021.

Director, Centre for National Policy Research

Director
Centre for National Policy Research
Date: 1 July, 2021

Declaration by Author
This is to declare that this report has been written by me. No part of the report is plagiarized from other
sources. All information included from other sources have been duly acknowledged. I aver that if any part of
the report is found to be plagiarized, I shall take full responsibility of it.
Monali Gupta
Date: 1 July, 2021

Acknowledgement
This project would not have been accomplished without the contribution and guidance of several people but
mentioning all of them is not feasible. I am grateful to them for their enormous contribution and assistance
throughout my study. However, I would extend my gratitude to the following:
Dr. Sayak Bhattacharya, Director, Centre for National Policy Research for ushering me through this project
and enlightening me with his vast knowledge and expertise that helped me accomplish my study; Mr. Suraj
Karande, Assistant Professor, Fergusson College (Autonomous) for his endless support and remarkable inputs
on the topic under study.
A lot of people have been involved in making my primary research a success- the respondents. I am indebted
to them as well as without their unbiased contribution, my study would have been incomplete. Special mention
to my college, Fergusson College (Autonomous), Pune for allowing me to participate and explore this non-
academic opportunity and showing full support for the same.
I once again extend my appreciation to all the people who helped me attain the results that I was seeking for.
I shall eternally remain obliged to them. My heartful thanks.
ABSTRACT
Care Economy has since ages been neglected. Free market proponents do not regard “care” as an
economic activity because of its nature that involves working voluntarily and the fact that it cannot be
quantified. However, this assumption is incorrect. Recent studies are hinting at another fact that giving due
recognition to “care” work undertaken by anybody can bring about changes by huge margin in employment
and development. Particularly, societies are framed in such a way that women undertaken almost all the
care work. Therefore, an economy that focuses on quantifying and recognizing care work will automatically
start empowering women- a major concern all over the world since ages. Previous studies on this concern
have often pointed out at the need to reevaluate our understanding of the topic. Therefore, the focus of
several studies has been to define “care economy”, which largely remains undefined due to the free-market
principles that economies abide to. Even though there are policies that might prove beneficial in alleviating
the problem, they largely remain bound to developed nations. The reason being simple- in underdeveloped
and developing nations “care economy” takes the backseat, while major focus is placed on other
macroeconomic problems like unemployment, poverty, inflation etc. However, what nations fail to
understand that being ignorant of care economy altogether adds on to the macroeconomic problems.
This study therefore, focuses on defining the importance of care economy in developing nations like India
and bringing the focus on the factual loopholes in any schemes that indirectly cater to care economy. An
empirical study for the same has been conducted to draw conclusive analysis pertaining to the existing
understanding of “care work” in India among the women carers. The study found out that not only the
economy but women themselves undervalue their care work and do not adhere due importance to their vast
contribution. An economic change regarding the same can only be brought about when people update
themselves psychologically.
i| Care Economy in India

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

NO. NO.
Abstract i
List of abbreviations and figures iii
Summary v
1 Introduction
1.1 The Problem Statement 2
1.2 Importance of the Problem 3
2 Literature Review 7
3 Background
3.1 Meaning 10
3.2 Valuation 11
4 Policies in India 12
5 Employability 18
5 Empirical Study Analysis 20
6 Policy Recommendation 25
7 Conclusion 29
8 References 31

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND FIGURES

ABBREVIATIONS:
BPL- Below Poverty Line
LPG- Liquid Petroleum Gas
WHO- World Health Organization
PMUY- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
IOCL- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
CAG- Comptroller and Auditor General
PW & LW- Pregnant Woman & Lactating Woman
DBT- Direct Benefit Transfer
PMMVY- Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
CWMI- Composite Water Management Index
AWC- Anganwadi Center
SOC- Social Overhead Capital
CSR- Corporate Social Responsibility
SHG- Self Help Groups
NGO- Non- Governmental Organization
NPA- Non- Performing Assets
FIGURES:
FIGURE 1- Percentage of employment of men and women in industrial sector
FIGURE 2- Percentage of employment of men and women in agricultural sector
FIGURE 3- Percentage of employment of men and women in service sector
Figures as per empirical data-
FIGURE 4- Employment Status of women
FIGURE 5- Occupation of women
FIGURE 6- Availability of Maternity Benefits at workplaces
iii
FIGURE 7- Types of Maternity Benefit offered at workplaces
FIGURE 8- Average time spent by women on care work
FIGURE 9- Types of care work women indulge in
FIGURE 10- Are job wages of employed women compensating for care work?
FIGURE 11- Whether women want to receive payment for their care work
FIGURE 12- Whether women are willing to offer care work as formal
employment
FIGURE 13- Contribution of men in care work
FIGURE 14- Awareness on Government Schemes
FIGURE 15- Has a domestic worker been employed by respondents?
FIGURE 16- Is the domestic worker paid as per government fixed wages?
iv
v
SUMMARY
Policy makers in the developed countries have begun to realize the contribution of women and their care
work in economic development and all-round growth. However, underdeveloped and under developing
nations are far behind this realization. Although recently scholars have started conducting empirical studies
for a wholesome understanding of the care economy, there is still a huge lag between the type of care
economy developed nations have vs in developing nations like India. A simple reason for this is the
difference between government spending on the required infrastructure that helps share the burden of care.
The following research aims to fill the loopholes in existing study and pave way for policy changes and/ or
upgradation that not only help to rescue women from the labyrinth of gender norms but also acknowledge
the market value and demand for care. Efforts in any economic sector to empower women will go futile
unless their unpaid care duty is both shared and quantitatively valued. Women often have to leave their jobs
or altogether aren’t able to join the labor force because of the work they are burdened with at homes. While
in a free- market capitalist world where big economies stress on creating free markets because only self-
interest can guide a nation to efficiency, women are proving that there is a greater force that keeps economies
going- i.e., “care”- that does not even focus on profit maximization. However, recent observations have
proved that unpaid care work does not only undervalue a woman’s endless efforts but also underestimates
the GDP of any nation. A right identification and valuation of care work can boost the GDP by 3 per cent
of any nation on an average.
Telescoping to the Indian situation, women are at a much greater loss than many other developing nations
like China. The simple cause being the traditional setup Indians still live in wherein most of the mindsets
are framed patriarchally. Though policies in India exist to coordinate with women in their care work, the
demography of the nation makes spreading an awareness about the policies and schemes a nightmare.
Moreover, schemes will reap bare minimum results until and unless people update psychologically and
value women’s work at homes as much as men’s work is valued at offices. It is only when these changes
are brought about women will also get an equal chance to participate in the labor force- the gender division
in employment being a different issue altogether. However, gender divide in labor force and care economy
are also interwoven. Many-a-times women are unwilling to participate in the labor force because there exists
a lag in how women’s and men’s works are valued. Furthermore, even if they participate, they are paid
lesser on the grounds that they are less efficient because their productivity gets divided between office and
home.
This work therefore, aims to understand that how care economy is perceived by economies and where
economies fail to understand the true value of it. For the same, recent works on care economy across nations
have been conceptualized and reviewed. While there exists empirical study on the topic under study but it
stands at an infant level or focuses majorly on either developed nations and their policies or underdeveloped
nations and their lack of policies. Therefore, this work also incorporates basic empirical study to understand
the valuation of care economy in India. Along with this, various policies in India have been analyzed that
are beneficial for women in sharing their care burden.
vi| Care Economy in India

INTRODUCTION
1. THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Imagine working at a firm for most of your time in a day. You are the backbone of the firm and without you
jobs for others would be like a nightmare. The whole firm depends on you for its smooth functioning. Without
you the firm would shut down and the productivity of others would fall. Your work adds tremendously to the
profits that the firm generates. But for a twist, your work goes unrecognized and you are not paid any
remuneration for your cosmic contribution both to the firm and to other individuals working in the firm. The
situation might seem unimaginable and impractical. But reality has hit hard ever since the concept of care
economy is being talked about. The situation aptly describes the state of carers in any economy. Though
economies have recently started acknowledging to the importance and existence of a care economy in any
nation, there have been minimum efforts to address the questions that evolve around the topic.
Care Economy revolves around work in both formal and informal economic setting i.e., no matter which form
the economy takes up, care work is inherent and inseparable. Adding further, it would not be wrong and
questionable to affirm that a major brunt of care work lies on the shoulders of women in any economy. And
also, the fact that women carers are largely undervalued as they undertake care work, in most cases, that goes
unpaid.
The contemporary developments regarding devising tools to quantify the work done by carers has been a
heated topic of discussion among economists and now even at a legal scale in India, but no solution has been
formulated in terms of policies to reimburse the carers for their contribution to economy. Specific focus has
been laid on women carers that encompasses a wide range of working conditions, wherein care work is
necessary or rather a compulsion for the women. A woman who is employed formally in the job sector has to
perform some sort (or in most cases even all) of the care work. A woman who is employed informally, say
works as domestic worker is on one hand responsible to carry out care work and on the other hand might as
well be a victim of underpayment for the tasks she performs. Underpayment and gender division in
employment are two other factors that can be covered under Care Economy but is often overlooked. It has
been found by ILO in the Asia and Pacific that women spend 4.1 times more time on care work than men.
In India, the topic under study plays a more relevant role because of how the Indian households are structured-
with women playing the utmost important role of a carer. In spite of this known fact, the macroeconomic
policies in India have kept its bandwidth limited to the traditional sectors of focus and care economy till today
takes the backseat. The policies formulated in India for the benefit of the women are limited to a handful of
females and they do not necessarily address the issue of quantifying the care work undertaken by women. The
large gender disparity in employment and remuneration, the lack of incentives and job security for women in
the informal sector, the patriarchal setup, and the dependence of the Government on women to deliver unpaid
or underpaid care work to save on the State’s resource allocation are few examples that justify India’s poor
progress in terms of unbalanced growth. Care Economy in India still lies in the dark, which if is spotlighted,
can lead to a balanced growth. Therefore, the problem lies in the identification of quantifiable opportunity
cost to women carers, insufficient policies to reduce gender divide and problem of underpayment and unpaid
care works, underdeveloped welfare models and lack of public and State support. To put it shortly- improper
care given to care economy leads to loss of nation’s wholesome growth.
2| Care Economy in India

2. IMPORTANCE OF THE PROBLEM
ASPECTS OF CARE ECONOMY FROM INDIAN LENS
While care economy, in literal sense, only deals with work that involves “physical, emotional and
psychological” activities, its curriculum can be expanded to accommodate other aspects as well. Since the
research focuses on women carers, particularly in India, the frame should be studied from the perspective of
other relevant economic aspects as well, such as gender division of labor, plight of domestic workers, and
problem of unpaid and underpaid care jobs, to highlight the importance of the problem. Therefore, a deeper
study into the aspects that substantiates the necessity to delve into finding the solutions to the problems
becomes an important part of this research.
Care Economy in India is a much undervalued and overlooked part of the economy. According to a study by
ILO, if appropriate attention is given to care economy in India, it can lead to the generation of 11 million
possible job opportunities out of which 32.5% shall necessarily be able to cover women from all socio-
economic strata. Although in the recent times a few states in India like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been trying
to bring up care economy to the forefront by taking up the issue in election campaigns, not much progress has
been made. Few of the main reasons for the same are the lack of right policies and incentives that targets all
the women and is not limited to certain section of women., the patriarchal setup of the Indian economy, the
preconceived notion of the Indian culture that women are the chief carers, etc. As it is rightly said that growth
of a woman helps the nation grow, it is high time, as also pointed out by the Supreme Court of India, that a
framework is designed that resolves all the problems surrounding care economy. The interference of the SC of
India into the matter itself signifies the importance of the unaddressed problems.
A. Gender Division of Labour
Gender gap in employment has been a shadowed problem since ages in India. According to a study by ILO,
it is in all cases tougher for a woman to find a job than a man with same skill sets and caliber. A tremendous
51 per cent gender gap exist in India in labor force participation, where only 27.2 per cent of the women
are seen to be participating over 78.8 per cent of the men in labor force. These stats depict the plight of
women in the job sector. The cause for this gap can to a great extent be credited to the fact that women
have to undertake the job of a caretaker at home, which eats up most of their time, energy and productivity.
However, another matter of concern, that the research focuses on, is gender gap in care work. When
considering care work, the picture turns upside-down. According to a report by OECD Development
Centre, men tend to participate much less in care work. A woman, as per the reports, spends two to ten
times more time on care work, majorly unpaid.
The participation of women in formal sector jobs has been reducing in the industry and agriculture sector
(FIGURE 1 & 2 respectively). An increasing trend of women participation in service sector can been
observed (FIGURE 3). However, the rate remains much slower than men participation. So, although a
positive trend can be noted in the service sector, there still exists a huge gap. The question to address here
is that how does a gender divide in employment brings us to focus on care economy. Or alternatively, how
will focus on care economy help reduce gender divide or women dropping out of labor force. Therefore,
both care economy and gender division are interwoven. Appropriate attention given to either of the two
can benefit the other and appropriate attention given to both can make the world a heavenly place for
women.

It would be wise to list out the causes of this interrelation
between care economy and gender divide from psychological
perspective, that would also validate the importance of the Employment in Industry (in %)
problem under study.
Percenatage of employment
i. The Male Breadwinner Paradigm-
It is a well-known reality in India that most of the 25.86 25.94 26.1 26.25 26.53 26.73 26.89 27.07
households, if not all, function on the set belief that men
are supposed to work outside the home boundaries while
women are supposed to remain confined to domestic 18.77 18.43 18.17 17.95 17.74 17.52 17.28 17.35
chores and care work. This concept is predominantly
observed in households with sustainable income. When 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
men of the house are able to earn enough for their families, Year
usually women are held back to perform domestic works. FEMALE MALE
FIGURE 1
This might not be the case when sustenance in a family
through male member’s income is tough as in such cases
women might be forced to undertake odd petty jobs for
survival. The concept of male breadwinner is itself an idea
Employment in Agriculture (in %)
that promotes gender divide and the ideology that only
women are supposed to take care of the family. Therefore,
Percentage of employemnt
two extreme cases take birth because of this paradigm- on
one hand the gender divide widens and on the other hand, 43.52 43.09 42.54 41.97 41.32
40.76 40.24 39.56
care work becomes a prey to gender divide. If this model is
somehow diluted, if not completely eradicated, from the
society not only will women get a fair chance to participate
59.96 59.36 58.67 57.93 57.15 56.35 55.53 54.69
in the labor force but also men will understand their
liability towards care work.
ii. Onset of Nuclear Families- 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
India being a traditional society is still known to be Year
working on traditional mindsets but the structure of
FEMALE MALE
working is modernizing. From the last few decades, FIGURE 2
extended families are converting to nuclear ones. This adds
on to the burden of women in each family. Back in the time
when households were formed of extended families,
usually women got more time for themselves and even the Employment in Services (in %)
chance to work outside their homes while the grandparents
Percenatage of employment
would take care of the children. Whereas now-a-days, with

the onset of nuclear families, the whole burden of taking
32.87 33.37
care of home as well as children runs down to the shoulders 31.78 32.14 32.5
30.63 30.97 31.37
of women. Therefore, many-a-times working women are
forced to quit their jobs to take care of their homes and
families. This therefore brings us to conclude that improper 27.19 27.96
21.27 22.21 23.16 24.12 25.11 26.14
policy framework that does not address care needs lead to
gender biasness as to who shall be taking care of families-
where clearly women bear the brunt, also indicating gender 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Year
divide.
FEMALE MALE
FIGURE 3

It is the lack of incentives, both private and State offered, that is making it a tough challenge to reduce gender
divide and thus balance gender roles in care economy. Hence, inadequate investment on care economy widens
gender gap which further poses repercussions on the care economy.
An additional issue that be covered here in India’s context is the inequality of job opportunities and
remuneration that women face. In India, to be specific in the lower income groups, women are forced to
undertake odd jobs to keep their family running. So, though the mentality of a “male breadwinner” might not
necessarily apply in such cases, the fact that women are forced to take up low-paying jobs in unsupportive
and unsafe environment raises a question altogether. Their future seems bleak irrespective of the mild
independence they gain through employment. An important point to mention here is that the jobs taken up by
women might be paying them as much as a man would have earned. So, again the problem of inequality
creeps in. While there are interwoven problems, there seems to be no concrete solution existing.
The graph on employment in agriculture (FIGURE 2) shows that although participation of women in
agricultural jobs have reduced over the years, the rate of decrease is lower than that of men. The reason is
clear- while men from households migrate to cities in search of jobs, women are forced to take up informal
or formal low-paying agricultural jobs to suffice their household expenditures. In such cases, when women
on one hand perform care work at home and on the other, indulge in low-paying agricultural jobs, the
opportunity cost does not get completely accredited. Opportunity cost is defined as the “next best opportunity
lost”. In simple words, in this case, opportunity cost of the care work that women do without payment would
be the jobs they take up by being a part of the labor force. However, the gap in the wages paid to them as
compared to what actually should have been paid accounts for an undervalued opportunity cost. It is an
“undervalued opportunity cost” because their payment in the job sector is not at par with the men. Therefore,
the true value that a woman would lose on if she does not work cannot be ascertained. It therefore, is a lose-
lose situation for women.
Thus, improper attention given to care economy is a problem because it indirectly affects women. To put it
simply, had proper attention been given to care economy wherein women are reimbursed in certain ways for
the care works they handle, the problem of unpaid work done by them would not arise in the first place and
secondly, there would exist no loss in opportunity cost that currently exists due to underpayment in jobs that
they formally/informally take up.
B. Plight of Women Domestic Workers
To better explain the plight of women as domestic workers, anecdotes from a marvelously written book
titled 23 Thing They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang, a South-Korean economist can
be taken. The book mentions a famous Latin American saying that ‘everyone in Latin America has a
maid’. This was however, a saying in the 1970s. He further goes on invalidating this very famous
statement as according to him things in the rich countries have changed ever since the invention of
washing machine. He uses ‘washing machine’ symbolically to represent technical advancement. The
author says that rich countries although had the ‘servant culture’ back in the 1800s, when they too were
poor, but eventually with technological advancements taking place and rapid growth in such countries,
the relative price of labor shot up exponentially as compared to other objects like washing machine. With
economic development people became more expensive relative to their prices in poor nations that still are
developing, where labor is cheap. Therefore, recruiting a maid in the rich nations might be a luxury but it
is a normal good, or in some cases even a necessity, in developing nations like India, where even the low-
income groups are seen to have maids due to the cheaply available labor of domestic care.

According to ILO’s statistics, 4.7 million Indians are employed as domestic care workers, out of which a
sweeping 3 million are women. These official statistics are just on record numbers, the real data might be
much larger as the domestic care worker segment is an informally organized sector in India. The report also
found out that on an average a domestic worker in Delhi, the capital of India, earns only Rs. 1875. The average
amount might be even lesser in Tier II and Tier III cities. This confirms to Ha-Joon Chang’s findings that
labor is cheap in developing nations. If compared to developed nations, one can also say that the domestic
care work in India is subject to exploitation because of the range of works performed by domestic workers
are insufficient wages.
Therefore, the plight of domestic workers in India is matter of concern and highlights the importance of the
problem that undermining care economy leads to ignorance of three vital aspects, that if addressed can
improve the situation of domestic care workers-
i. if policies are formulated to take care of the domestic workers, which constitutes a large number of
people, and are brought into the formal labor force, employment can be increased several manifolds;
ii. standard of living of several such domestic workers can be enhanced, which ultimately will lead to
the growth of the nation;
iii. women will get empowered and a nation that facilitates women progress, progresses much faster than
others. This has been validated by the Japanese with the introduction of Womenomics Policy by the
former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, into the mainstream.
Domestic workers are one of the main branches of care economy. Improper attention given to them because
of lack of policies that support them, adds a stain to care economy altogether. Thus, the problem intensifies
with the exploitation of cheaply available care labor.

LITERATURE REVIEW
While care economy is still a germinating point of focus, a few organizations and researchers are trying to
establish the importance of care economy in the growth of a nation. Nancy Folbre in her research on care
economy and economic development contextualized on unpaid care work globally and delved into the
policies that certain Asian countries have for women empowerment. Through her study, she tried to unveil
the true meaning of “care” in economic aspects and the drawbacks in its measurement across the globe. She
draws the readers’ attention to the fact that care work cannot be categorized into a single framework for
measurement purpose. This is because the nature and intensity of work that would contribute to both the
women’s development as well as the nation’s development will differ not only from country to country but
also from sector to sector, and in several cases even person to person. The demography, fertility rates,
women’s control over resources, women head of the families, household compositions etc. all play a vital
role in deciding the right tool for measurement, wherein these components are bound to differ from place to
place. Her research brought out a qualitative analysis on market and non-market activities that constitute
paid and unpaid work done by women and how they are quantified- or rather overlooked- in National
Accounting and the gaps therein that have greater consequences.
It also has been reported by the UK Women’s Budget Group that to ensure effective economic growth and
generate employment opportunities, even during recessionary periods, a right amount of investment in care
economy is required. The study based its findings on the Keynesian macroeconomic theory- that in times of
high unemployment or underemployment rates, public investment can act as a booster that would generate
effective demand and further induce private investment, leading to generation of employment. The report
talked about potential public investment in social as well as physical infrastructure. The research was based
out of empirical evidences, case studies and theoretical arguments that looked at investment in caring
infrastructure and physical infrastructure comparatively. It was found out that investment in caring
infrastructure yielded more benefits, while mildly less in physical infrastructure but still effective. However,
the paper focused on OECD nations, which becomes the case of developed economies. It would be
inappropriate to compare India’s recessionary period and policy strategies to that of OECD nations because
of the very difference in development levels and the way the economies are structured demographically,
economically and socially.
Ria Kasliwal in her article claims that “one of the areas that promises revival of Indian economy- inclusively
and fast paced- is the care economy and one of the first steps to undertake this is the identification of care
workers in India”. She stressed upon the fact that while there are definitions given to care economy by ILO,
an “Indian” definition to it is required for the right identification. She branched out her study to focus on the
potential employment that could be generated keeping in mind the huge population of India and therefore,
the vast demand for care in the country.
Quite a few researchers, economists and policy makers have often talked about care economy, but no
concrete solution to the problem has been devised. While most of the studies focus on either underdeveloped
nations like in the African continent, others throw light on developed nations. Since India is a developing
nation, neither of the studies can be applied here. Moreover, unlike many other nations that have started
tilting their plane recently to care economy, India has had several policies, which though are barely/scarcely
implemented. Therefore, this paper aims to work upon some of the loopholes of the existing literature such
as undue recognition given to developing nations like India in the study of care economy that have
tremendous space to generate employment and promote gender equality, study the existing policies in India
that directly or indirectly promote and invest in care economy- but have been implemented poorly and finding
plausible solutions to the problem of identification of care workers and quantification of care work.

BACKGROUND
1. MEANING
“Care”, as already explained earlier, is the act of “looking after and providing for the needs of someone/
something”, as Google would define it. Alternatively, care has been defined as “provision of what is necessary
for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something”. Therefore, “care” in literal
terms can be defined in many ways, but all of them ultimately zoom-in to ensuring wellbeing of the society at
large. While the society has been structured in such a way that women are the major caretakers all-over the
world, the definite types of care work they render to the society varies largely. Care work cannot be called a
subjective matter. However, the extent to which each woman carries out care work is subjective. The care
offered by a woman under each category of care job remains homogenous more or less.
To explain the subjectivity of the range of care works that a woman performs, the example of an employed
woman (in the formal sector) can be taken. Women who are a part of the labor force and are formally employed
have the option to choose the care works that fits within their schedule, while hire someone else to do the
remaining. For example- a working woman might choose to take care of her child on her own or might choose
to admit the child to a childcare service offering institution. Similarly, employed women have the option to
choose whether they want to undertake domestic chores like cleaning and cooking on their own or hire a
domestic helper for the same. While some amount of subjectivity also lies with unemployed women, they rarely
opt for transferring their share of care work to some foreign person/ institute.
To better understand the level of subjectivity available with women, it becomes necessary to divide care work
into categories-
i. Direct Care Work:
Direct care work includes jobs that have no flexibility or chances of subjectivity. They necessarily
have to be performed, and in maximum cases by women. Some examples could include taking care
of newborn or infant children, sick people, old age people at home. These type of care jobs require a
one-to-one interaction and cannot be transferred. For example- a mother necessarily has to breastfeed
her child and no other caretaker can be hired for the job. It is difficult to quantify such type of care
services rendered by women and often go unpaid. However, mechanisms need to developed to
reimburse this as it adds value to the society- a healthy child will constitute a healthy future of the
nation.
ii. Indirect Care Work:
This category of care work generally includes jobs that do not require any personal touch or
interaction between the caretaker and person whose care is being taken of. Indirect care work includes
jobs like cooking, cleaning, laundry, fetching water from public sources, collection of firewood etc.
The indirect care work performed are quantifiable and can be computed in monetary terms. However,
they may be still be unpaid care work and excluded from estimation of growth of a country. Therefore,
resulting in a loss in National Accounting. Indirect care work to a greater extent also provides
flexibility and the quantum of work that each woman undertakes is subjective.
In Indian context, due to unavailability of right social infrastructure, the indirect care work largely remains an
area to be undertaken by women themselves. And because it largely remains unpaid, though quantifiable in
terms of both opportunity cost and social infrastructure cost, the National Accounts are to a great extent
undervalued. Although there are certain policies in place, the poor implementation and lack of awareness adds
on the to the burden. The next section shall therefore, focus on the existing policies in India that help resolve
the problem of unpaid care work in India but are scarcely implemented.

2. VALUATION
Unfortunately currently unpaid care work is valued at zero. Though in recent times care work has been
recognized while formulating policies, the recognition has been qualitative and not quantitative. The value of
certain jobs can be market ascertained such as the job of cleaning yet, it is not quantified when done by women
at household level and are not offered as services to others. Further, the proponents of market-economy
altogether disregard the importance of unpaid care work. According to them, care work is something that is
voluntarily done by both men and women in their idle time i.e., the time when they are not formally working
in the job sector. Thus, they state, that market valuation would not make it a complementary income.
In all of these arguments, often the opportunity cost to women goes unnoticed. Women who perform care jobs
compromise on their leisure time and larger quantifiable opportunity cost in terms of jobs they could have
formally taken up. It results in a compromise on part of their financial independence. This also increases the
gender gap in employment.
Often the fact also goes ignored that if unpaid care work is indeed valued, it could result in enhanced
productivity and better standards of living as an ensured income will provide a boost to the women workers.
In Western developed nations, employed and unemployed women are provided with State support in terms of
maternity and paternity leaves, subsidized child and old age care services, part-time job offers etc. that can be
counted as valuation of some part of the care work. However, in developing nations like India, women first of
all take-up additional care work like fetching water, collecting fuelwood etc., and on the other hand, there are
bare minimum alternatives/ help available to the women that could value their work like in Western countries.
The poor social infrastructure also does not allow to value care work appropriately. This therefore, can be listed
as one of the reasons for the developed nations to have better productivity and higher standards of living than
developing nations.

POLICIES IN INDIA
The Indian government has several policies in place that benefit women. Although these policies were not
designed keeping in mind the care economy in India, appropriate implementation will directly benefit the
care economy. In most cases, policies framed at central and state level are aimed at building a social
infrastructure that benefit its citizens. The investment in social overheads help in reducing the burden on
women as they play their roles as caretakers. To put it simply, taking example of rural India wherein women
earlier had to travel several miles to fetch water for their families are now benefitting through government
investments in setting up of public taps in nearby areas. The act of fetching water can be categorized under
indirect care work and the time and energy that local public taps help save, are a step towards building a
better care economy and taking care of the carers. In the setup of a social overhead like local taps, there isn’t
any direct remuneration involved to the women caretakers but is indirectly benefitting them by reducing their
burden of work and giving them the opportunity to invest their save time and elsewhere in other productive
jobs.
Similar to such small steps, the Indian government has several larger policies and schemes in place that help
reduce the burden of indirect care work by either directly remunerating the carers or indirectly helping in
sharing the burden. There are also policies that provide extended help to direct care providers. In spite of the
presence of policies and schemes in place, its poor implementation that focuses only on a handful of women,
altogether reduces its efficiency and thereby proves out to be a negligible focus given to care economy and
the carers.
I. MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT

GUARANTEE ACT
This Act was passed in 2005. The Act guarantees 100 days of waged employment to rural
households in unskilled labor works. The key features that make it take a step towards care
economy are-
i. there is a 33 per cent reservation for women under the Act,
ii. the Act guarantees equal wage pay to both men and women thus, helps in reducing the
gender divide and promotes women to participate at par with men,
iii. the Act also mandates provision of creches at worksites to be setup the employer. This
would help the women would smaller kids to participate as well as they would not have
to worry about giving the right care to their kids.
All of these features of the Act truly take a step ahead towards women empowerment and helps
in sharing their care burden. However, the footfalls in its implementation overweigh the benefits
it offers. According to a study done on a sample of 100 women who were enrolled under the Act
in Rajasthan-
i. the unskilled labor offered by women was much higher than their productivity that led to
fatigue and pain. This demotivates them to participate as wages aren’t equivalent to
productivity (monetary loss) plus there’s physical loss.
ii. The reports claimed that most of the women who were surveyed declined the existence of
childcare facilities at workplaces and even if they existed, the poor services and quality
could not be used. This again discourages women with younger kids to participate in the
labor force.
iii. Reduced wage payment due to early leaves taken by women. Since the working conditions
are hostile and tiresome and least or no childcare facilities are available at workplaces,
women are forced to leave early than stipulated working hours. This therefore, results in
a wage cut.

Therefore, even though the Act tries to reduce gender divide in payment and empowers women,
it mostly remains on paper. Because of all the drawbacks mentioned above, real benefits aren’t
enjoyed by women. Thus, it becomes mandatory that the Act starts accommodating the care
burdens of women. A more responsive social infrastructure can result out to be beneficial in such
a situation.
II. PRADHN MANTRI UJJWALA YOJANA-

The Union Government of India launched this social welfare scheme on 1st May, 2016. The
Scheme’s vision is to observe a smoke-free rural India and aims to include five crore BPL women
under its provisions and for the same LPG cylinders at subsidized rates will be offered along with
an indemnity of Rs. 1600. The supply of LPG cylinders at concessional rates will empower
women by preventing them from cooking on harmful fuelwood and biomass that causes
respiratory health problems. According to a report by WHO, around 5 lakh women in India die
every year because of exposure to unclean fuels. The scheme also helps in reducing air pollution
and deforestation thus, preventing overall health problems. The scheme therefore, helps women
by sharing their indirect care work of cooking by saving their time and energy in collection of
fuelwood and also saves them from health hazards thus, enhancing their overall productivity that
can be used elsewhere.
The scheme looks visionary on paper but reality seems a far cry. The following loopholes are
observed in the scheme-
i. Payment of remaining amount to get a connection- The first problem in implementing the
scheme begins at the implementation level itself. To put it simply, each LPG connection
costs around Rs. 3,200. While the government is supporting BPL families with an amount
of Rs. 1,600, they are supposed to spend the remaining Rs. 1,600 from their own pockets.
This is obviously a hefty amount when we are considering the BPL families. They
therefore, become reluctant to avail the benefits under the scheme because they feel that
the initial investment is unbeneficial as compared to cheaper biomass or kerosene.
Further, households are reluctant to go for a refill even after taking connections because
they find alternatives to be cheaper. A study found out that while LPG connections
increased by 16.26 per cent (Scroll.in), the actual sales increased only by 9.83 per cent.
This gap arose because people declined going for expensive refills.
ii. Option of loan to bear the remaining amount for connection and refills- The government
gave an option to the BPL families that in order to install LPG connection they can seek
for a loan at zero interest of the remaining Rs. 1,600 from LPG companies. However, this
would mean that households will have to a bear a cut in their subsidies. This again
discouraged households from taking up the benefits as it was obviously out of their budget
to pay full amount for LPG cylinders.
iii. The identification of beneficiaries is challenging. India is a web of rural parts. However,
not all rural Indians are poor. Therefore, finding the right and legitimate beneficiary is
still an ongoing challenge in spite of the scheme coming into practice a few years ago.
iv. Corrupt practices- A study shows that distributors often got involved in malpractices by
selling cylinders under Ujjwala Scheme in black market in the name of the beneficiaries.
While PMUY benefits can only be availed by women, it was reported in the ‘Performance
Audit of PM Ujjwala Yojana’ that “due to a lack in input validation check” at IOCL and
a software error, connections were issued to 1.88 lakh male beneficiaries.

A study by Crisil found out that 85 per cent of the respondents resisted the transition from using
biomass for cooking to LPG because of the expenses they had to incur, while 83 per cent still
preferred opting for alternatives because cost of refill was high. CAG reported that PMUY
beneficiaries declined their refill consumption by 3.21 refills per annum in 2018. This decline
was noticed only because of the reluctance of the beneficiaries to take a loan that would deprive
them of full subsidy amount. This scheme, though was a lot boasted about, but lacks the basic
implementation problems. Therefore, though there exists a scheme that helps to share one of the
indirect care burdens, it does not actually prove out to be beneficial. The real beneficiaries i.e.,
the women have no say in deciding for themselves in most of the cases.
III. PRADHAN MANTRI MATRU VANDANA YOJANA-

The scheme came into effect from January 1, 2017 that aimed at compensating for the loss of
wages to PW & LW. The scheme works upon the DBT system, wherein a sum of Rs. 5,000 is
received by eligible PW & LW in three installments. The scheme can be availed by women during
their first live childbirth. PMMVY is definitely a great step towards ensuring that the caretakes
(mothers) get enough care. The amount of help may be small, but indeed would provide some
relief to women who are unable to avail any facility related to maternity and childcare.
Drawbacks are inherent to schemes that are implemented on such a large scale in a diverse and
densely populated nation like India. Some of them being-
i. Procedural loopholes- under the scheme, money transfers are made in three installments
of Rs. 1,000-1,000-2,000. However, to get the amount of each installment there are a lot
of paper works involved. The procedure is lengthy. The cumbersome process acts as a
disincentive as the beneficiary women, often from rural and vulnerable background, lack
enough knowledge to complete the procedure and fill forms. There is least assistance
provided to them and the enormous requirements just add to their burden to visit
verification centers during pregnancy.
ii. DBT: A failure- According to a report by The Hindu, wherein they interviewed Anura
Roy said that the “success rate [of DBT] has been dismal and pathetic”. It was found out
that in Ajmer district only 220 beneficiaries actually received the amount in their accounts
out of 20,000 potential grantees. This failure was an outcome of linking Aadhar
verification to DBT system, which altogether added to the cumbersome process. Further,
the appointment of middlemen to guide women about the procedure of withdrawal led to
accountability issues. The system also faces technical and connectivity issues as most
women are from rural backgrounds and thus, are computer illiterate. All of these failures
led to exclusion of real beneficiaries.
iii. Improper use of funds- Initially when the scheme was started, several instances of using
the funds for reasons other than prescribed ones were reported. Since it is feasibly
impossible to keep a check on the usage of funds, it has been noticed that often women
spend for causes other than buying necessary nutrients/ medicines. Therefore, the whole
motive of DBT gets defeated. What possibly could have been done is to deliver medicines
and other necessities to PW & LW instead of giving out money. This way surety of women
health needs can be ensured along with generating employment since a whole supply
chain management would be required. This would not only increase employment in one-
fold, but a multiplier effect will be observed (elaborated in the next chapter).

Overall, the PMMVY is a great initiative that has benefitted 1,28,20,361 women beneficiaries till
2018. However, more needy women can be brought under the scheme if procedural changes are
made. This initiative not only helps pregnant and lactating women to take care of their unborn or
infant child, but also cares for the mother’s health. It will indeed be a win-win situation if the
scheme actually turns out to be a “game-changer” in reality, as it had been during its launch.
These were few of the policies that provide direct benefits to women caretakes in reducing their care burden.
There are other social and physical infrastructural benefits that have benefitted women in sharing their care
burdens. Few of them can be listed as follows-
1. A report by CWMI in 2018 showed that 75 per cent of Indian households lacked drinking water
facility and a huge 84 per cent of the rural households did not have access to water at all in nearby
spaces or as piped water supply. The lack of a basic necessity commodity like water added to the
indirect care burden that women had to render to their families and thus, they were forced to travel
long routes to fetch water. The lack of piped water infrastructure is still a hindrance, that if worked
upon, can act as a helping hand to provision of care.
The Government of India announced a Jal Jeevan Mission that aims at providing safe running water
through piped supplies to rural households by 2024. If this Mission of the government indeed is a
success, a part of the indirect care burden of women in rural India would reduce.
2. Anganwadis setup in the rural parts of the nation are providing assistance to women in childcare. The
aim of AWCs is to supplement the provision of basic healthcare facilities, informal pre-education to
young children, provide nutrition to pregnant women and infants, immunization etc. AWC were
started in 1975 and have not only facilitated women in child and elderly care activities through
provision of basic health facilities and pre-schooling for children but have also provided mass
employment to women. All AWCs do is provide care support and when women are actually paid for
giving care, it is a step towards women empowerment and recognition of their care work.
The initiative is truly commendable but has certain loopholes. Firstly, the budget allocation to AWCs
is not enough to ensure care to everyone. Secondly, the staff members at AWCs, typically women
from poor rural households, are not paid a sustainable amount as per their productivity, i.e., their
wages are not market determined and are much less than other government officials working with
same caliber and investing same amount of time and energy. Thirdly, corruption and crime against
women are often reported at AWCs and there are no checks in place to control these. Fourthly, the
physical infrastructure that was constructed for childcare health and other provisions lies in shatters
now and no renovation or upgradation is taking place. Lastly, there is underemployment at the centers-
as per a report, the doctor to patient ration that ideally should be 1:1000 as per recommended levels
is actually at 1:1800.
Therefore, the success of such an initiative completely depends on working upon improving the
loopholes. Some basic steps that could be taken is to give basic computer trainings to the workers and
digitize the process, that would help reduce the corrupt practices and the needs could be centrally
determined this way, ensuring proper budget allocation. To revamp the physical infrastructure,
MGNREGA employees could be utilized. This way on one hand, employment will be generated via
MGNREGA and on the other, better facilitation through AWC will empower women and reduce some
of their indirect care work. Further, the women employees, like other public sector employees, should
be given necessary social security benefits like retirement benefits and basic insurance coverage.

Also, since Anganwadis work in close association with rural population, it would be easy to locate
beneficiaries for PMMVY and solve the problem of eligible women by helping in filling up forms
and completing the procedure.
To sum up, there exist quite a few schemes in India that if implemented at the right scale and budget, can
value care work and assist women in childcare and development (education, healthcare). If schemes work in
coordination and are integrated, larger population can be covered under each scheme. This way budget can
also be used efficiently as coordination and collection of data of potential beneficiaries (women) will become
easier. For example- since Anganwadis work at ground level, it will be easy for them to ascertain the number
of women who would be eligible for PMMVY, or AWCs can collect information on the required physical
infrastructure and thereby employ required people to work on the same. This would eliminate the
government’s problem and expenditure on identification of beneficiaries and help reduce corruption through
elimination of middlemen. AWCs, where already forms of PMMVY are filled, can be utilized to spread
awareness and provide right care related information to women as it has been observed that often PW & LW
are unaware about the schemes available for them.

EMPLOYABILITY
Economies around the world aim to generate employment while keeping the inflation under control. Care
economy is one aspect of the larger economy that if given the right attention, is capable of generating
employment manifold and increasing growth through multiplier effect. This is because till date not much
investment has been made into the care economy and as economists would say investments initially would
bring about an increasing returns to scale. Verbally the narration can be explained as follows-
An investment to build a SOC-

SOC like a well-established education system (especially pre-school and primary), basic water facility,
electricity etc. help women in reduction of their indirect care burden. If these social infrastructures are well-
built, women will have to spend less time in taking care of early education of their kids, fetching water or
arranging for fuelwood for light (in case of rural India). This time that they save can either be used elsewhere
for other productive works or can be enjoyed as leisure time that will overall enhance the productivity.
Leisure and productivity are directly related. Economics explains that a person derives utility by both earning
wages and enjoying leisure time. An optimal combination of both is vital to ensure maximum utility. This
utility that any person derives in turn enhances productivity. A balanced combination leads to giving higher
utility, and higher the utility; higher will be the productivity.
In case of unpaid care work, productivity will thus depend only upon leisure since there are no (or minimum)
wages earned by women. This might however disrupt the economic model of labor supply that is based on
combination of wages and leisure. But that’s the whole point here! The economic model of supply of labor
is not applicable on care economy, which ideally should have been. And because it is not, or because wages
aren’t decided as per marginal productivity of caretaker (or in fact, there are no wages at all), the labor market
remains undervalued. However, this undervaluation gets coped-up to some extent if right investment is made
in SOC to benefit indirect care work.
An investment in SOC enhances productivity and growth rates according to the Keynesian economics. In
situations of underemployment or unemployment, it is the lack of effective demand that also deters private
investment. If the government invests to construct say, pre-school in a few small districts of India, it will
lead to a multiplier effect of capital formation- firstly, as the government invests in construction, employment
would increase on the construction part. Secondly, jobs will increase in related industries that provide raw
materials for the construction. As a result of increase in employment, as people start earning, their demand
for goods and services will increase. This will help increase employment and production in other sectors as
well who will cater to the increased demand for goods and services. This is called induced demand
generation. This way, an initial government investment increased demand and employment directly and
indirectly and therefore, an overall expansionary effect can be observed that affects GDP positively. If
specifically care economy is to be mentioned, investment in SOC that benefits indirect care work will
increase employment of care workers to work on the infrastructure and provide their care services and skills.
It means, care work will be recognized and a market determined remuneration will be made to the caretakers.
An evidence of this could be the study conducted by Women’s Budget Group (2019), wherein they stated
that even if expenditure on health care infrastructure is increased by 2 per cent of the GDP, it is capable of
generating 11 million jobs and the benefit of this will trickle down to a third of women willing to join the
labor force.

ANALYSIS
EMPIRICAL STUDY
The empirical data was collected through the medium of an online
questionnaire. A total of 83 responses were collected; only from
women. The aim of the questionnaire was to ascertain the value
that women, both employed and voluntarily employed, give to the
care work they perform.
Employment Status
The objective was thought upon by looking into the case of
Assembly Elections of Tamil Nadu in April 2019. Kamal Haasan,
who was debuting from Coimbatore South Assembly constituency,
in his election campaigns raised the issue of care economy and had Employed
promised to give women the dignity that they were lacking since 30% 30%
years. The MNM party assured that if they are voted to power each Voluntarily
unemployed
homemaker would get a sum of Rs. 1000 as a remuneration to the
unrecognized care work they undertook. However, it was shocking Unemployed
that Kamal Haasan, even after understanding and addressing 40%

women’s right issue, was not voted to power. It showed the lack of
value that not only men adhered to care work but also women FIGURE 4
themselves are undervaluing their work.
Therefore, the questionnaire was framed in such a way so as to
understand how well women value their as well as their domestic
workers’ care work, the level of awareness among women on the
available government schemes that facilitate indirect care work Occupation
and the benefits that private sectors have to ensure women
caretakers get due care in times of need.
57 per cent of the respondents belonged to young-to-middle young 4% Professional
working age group of 18 to 35 years; while 41 per cent of the 28% Self-employed
respondents belonged to middle-to-old working age group of 36 to 48% Businesswoman
60 years. The remaining 2 per cent belong to youngest age group Part-time
of 15 to 17 years, who are not legally allowed to work in formal 8% Other
sectors in India, but they definitely do indulge in care work 12%
because no labor laws supervise the working age group in care
economy. FIGURE 5
Further, 40 per cent of the respondents were voluntarily

unemployed (i.e., they willingly were not a part of labor force and
thus, includes homemakers and students), while 30 per cent of the
respondents were employed (i.e., they were working- 88 per cent
of them in the private sector and 12 per cent of the responding
women in government sector) and unemployed (i.e., they were in
search of jobs) each. Out of all the women employed, a major 48
per cent of the respondents were working as professionals, and the
next highest 28 per cent of the respondents were part-time
employees in private sector. 12 per cent of the respondents were
self-employed and 8 per cent were businesswomen. The remaining
4 per cent of the respondents were involved in odd or petty jobs.
The main aim of ascertain the employment status of women and
their occupation was to understand the type of benefits women

enjoy at their work places with respect to their honor of care related
work. (FIGURE 4 & 5)
Maternity Benefits
The study found out that although 48 per cent of the employed
respondents have some kind of maternity benefits being offered to
them, a sweeping 52 per cent were either unaware of the benefits
(precisely 28 per cent) or their jobs did not offer any maternity
28% Yes
benefits at all (precisely 24 per cent) (FIGURE 6). The
unawareness among employed women hints at the fact that women 48% No
themselves are least concerned about taking care of themselves Maybe

while they offer care to their babies in their womb. They do not 24%
consider to look out for maternity benefits before taking up
employment at different centers. The remaining 24 per cent of the
women whose employers did not offer any maternity benefit is a FIGURE 6
matter of concern altogether because the Maternity Benefit Act,
1961 enforces upon all employers who work with 10 or more
employees to provide women with maternity benefits in written
form (at the time of joining) and in practical form (when required).
It may be acceptable that the respondents who did not have Type of Maternity Benefit
maternity benefits may not be working at big, well-established
firms, but it definitely is a loophole in the law that has rules
specified for the employers that benefit women employees but Paid Maternity
Leave
there is no governing body to ensure that employers abide by the Creches
Act. Furthermore, the lack of awareness about existence of any sort 44%
48% Nursing Breaks
of maternity benefits, other than specifying that women
themselves are undervaluing their care work, ascertains that Unaware, but
exists
female employees are not being provided with written form of
maternity benefit at the time of joining which can be a cause of 4% 4%
their uncertainty/ unawareness about the benefits.
Although 48 per cent of the women responded positively to the FIGURE 7
question of availability of maternity benefits at their job place, an

astonishing 44 per cent of them did not know about the type(s) of
benefits they were entitled to. This again boils down to the lack of
awareness and non-abidance to the rules of the Act. 48 per cent of
Average time spent on care work
the women are offered paid maternity leaves and 4 per cent have Less than 3
creches facility and get nursing breaks each. (FIGURE 7) hours:
Employed
The lack of awareness concludes that it is necessary that the Act, Women
that has already been implemented, needs supervision- in terms of 28% 24%
3 to 5 hours:
even implementation across all sectors and ensuring that all Employed
clauses mentioned under the Act are met and women actually reap Women
its benefits. For this purpose, random auditing of contracts can be
undertaken, or companies should be mandated to take sessions to More than 5
48%
aware women about the benefits they offer. These sessions can be hours: Both
organized nation-wide and all the women across the nation can be employed and
voluntarily
called and awareness about their rights as well as essentials of unemployed FIGURE 8
maternity care can be dealt with. This can be included as a CSR
activity to promote companies to undertake such events.

The study also found out that working women on an average spend
3 to 5 hours on care work, while voluntarily unemployed women
spend more than 5 hours on care work like such as cooking, Type of Care Work
cleaning, childcare, elderly care etc. (FIGURE 8 & 9). 72 per cent
of the employed women accepted that their job payment does not 2%
rightly compensate for their care work too. This means, that other 21%
24% Cleaning
than working for a minimum of 8 hours in office, they have to Cooking
undertake unpaid care work. This directly affects their physical
Childcare
and mental health and as stated earlier, a loss of productivity is
Elderly Care
bound to happen because of being overworked and lack of proper
Other
leisure time. Another important observation was that 20 per cent 28%
of the respondents were not interested at all in comparing their 25%
company wages to the care work they performed. This again
indicates that women themselves are undervaluing their care work. FIGURE 9
(FIGURE 10)
Carrying forward the ongoing undervaluation analysis, 49 per cent
of the women do not want any compensation for their care work
and 35 per cent of the women would not want to render their care Are job wages compensating for
services as a formal employment (FIGURE 11 & 12). This lack of care work?
valuation among women for their own hard work can be credited
to the patriarchal society that India is, wherein girls since
Yes
childhood are taught care work to be their moral duty. An evident 8%
example of this would be primary textbooks that define words such 20%
as cooking and cleaning with pictures of women undertaking these No, I don't want
any
works. This although might seem an ignorable matter, but these compensation
small things create huge psychological impact in kids’ minds. Maybe
72%
Moreover, 18 per cent of the women are unsure whether they
should be getting paid for their care work, while 19 per cent are
FIGURE 10
unsure whether they are willing to take up formal employment as
care workers. While no economic reasons could be ascertained for
this from the questionnaire, the psychological reasons mentioned
above are evident.
However, disregarding the moral values that women hold, after all Payment for care work
India is a nation that stands high upon its culture and values, will
be wrong. Therefore, it in fact makes the job of the government
easier. This is because if only fewer women, out of the all the
women carers, decide to render their care services (42 per cent as 22%
29% Yes
per the study), the generation of number of employment
opportunities and burden of payment on the government reduces. No
The funds that get saved here from offering direct benefits such as Maybe
employment to women can be diverted to catering indirect benefits
through building proper SOC for the benefit of larger section of 49%
women.
Even if women morally decide to disregard the value of their care FIGURE 11
work, it definitely then becomes the moral duty of men too to

share the care work burden. But as mentioned previously, kids are
brought up with the notion that men are supposed to be the
breadwinners while women undertake care work. This was also Job offer as a care worker
proved by this empirical study as 21 per cent of the women
respondents were positive about men equally helping them in care
work. 30 per cent of the respondents clearly rejected the
Yes
contribution of male members in their families in care work while 23%
36 per cent said that male members sometimes helped (FIGURE 42% No
13). This result is in-sync with ILO study which stated that women
tend to do two to ten times more care work than their male Maybe
counterparts. It seems highly unlikely to aware men to contribute 35%
or act as an equivalent helping hand to women in care work after
they have matured. It is only possible to bring about a change in
the psychology of the men and the society at large, if kids in their FIGURE 12
primary education itself are taught in an unbiased manner on topics

related to care work. The government can ensure that families are
given right parenting tips and textbooks are updated to
accommodate an unbiased perspective.
Contribution of men in care work
Finally, the questionnaire aimed at understanding how well
information about government schemes that benefit women in
indirect and direct care work have penetrated across the nation.
PMUY came out to be the most well-known scheme out of the 13% 21%
Yes
schemes discussed in an earlier chapter. This effectively suggests
No
that there is a need to spread more awareness about the benefits
that the government offers to women. An easiest way to do this,
36% Sometimes
according to me, could be making an announcement through daily 30%
garbage pickers who go door-to-door collecting garbage every Rarely
day. The municipal vehicles that pick garbage can be attached with
speakers that play information about different schemes that FIGURE 13
government offers. And since women, in most cases, drop garbage
at the pick-up vehicles, will get aware about the schemes available
for them.
While this empirical study tried to understand women’s behavior
with respect to care work they undertake, it lacks in its reach. This Awareness on Government Schemes
study acts as building block that can be expanded to accommodate
larger number of women and make concluding remarks on the 54
same.
38
33
22
17
11
FIGURE 14

RECOMMENDATIONS
POLICY
The world has started focusing on Care Economy. With many
economies experiencing ageing population, where India stands
second in the list of world’s fastest ageing population countries, it
becomes important that not only childcare but elderly care services
are also developed. India ranks far from the top in Global Pension
System Ranking with an Index Score (2020) of 45.7 only. India Has a domestic worker been
does not even feature in the list of the “Best Countries to Raise a employed?
Family, 2020”. However, the good news is that India does not even
come under the worst countries to raise a family. This means that
the status of India can definitely be improved via the provision of
right social security benefits for old age and accurately targeted
Yes
subsidies and SOC for making the nation family- friendly. 45%
Building up better system for the old age and children will 55% No
automatically help women reduce their care burden, which
disproportionately falls on them. A World Bank blogs mention

that married women spend about 14 to 42 per cent more time on
children care while their male married counterparts spend only FIGURE 15
about 1 to 20 per cent. This burden of care largely affects their
leisure time. If policies are formulated to majorly take care of the
children and ageing people, women will get an opportunity to
equally participate in the workforce and reduce their opportunity
cost. Policies thus framed will constitute benefitting direct care
work. On the other hand, indirect care work can be looked upon
by strengthening the domestic workers’ condition in the economy. Is the domestic worker paid as per
government rates?
Policies can be formulated or existing ones can be reframed to be
more accommodative not only to women but also women
domestic workers. I specifically mention women domestic
workers because in the empirical study that was conducted, it was 24% Yes
found out that out of the 55 per cent respondents who had hired a
domestic worker to share their care burden (both direct and No
indirect for works such as cooking, cleaning, child care and elderly
care), 75 per cent of them did not pay their helpers as per 76%
government decided wages (FIGURE 15 & 16). This simply is
indicative of the fact that if care economy is to be looked after then
FIGURE 16
the plight of domestic workers needs to be improved.
Therefore, this research study proposes policy recommendations
in two aspects- one being solely for the women and two, for the
domestic workers who on one hand undertake care work at their
homes and on the other hand, are also involved in caring for and
on behalf of other women informally.
Policy recommendations for domestic care workers:
The Central Government had introduced Domestic Workers
(Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2008 to regulate
the informal domestic workers’ market. This Act is subjected to
State approvals, which still lies in files and is not being looked at.

The Act if implemented across States, can benefit women by recognizing their informally undertaken
care work. As per the Act, domestic workers (who are women in maximum cases) will be entitled to
following benefits:
i. Formal working hours and annual paid leaves;
ii. Minimum Wages as per the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (Section 22) or as per decided by the
State governments;
iii. Penalty and Safety Provisions which will safeguard women from unhealthy working conditions
including immoral behavior of employer or crimes like human trafficking;
iv. Protection against sexual harassment as per the Section 23 of the Act;
v. Benefits like paid maternity leave and retirement pension scheme.
Even after the introduction of such an Act that safeguards domestic workers and is especially a boon for
the women domestic helpers, States are least bothered to implement it. Only five states- Jharkhand,
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan- have actually implemented the Act and fixed
minimum wages for the workers, its non-abidance being a different matter of concern altogether. Thus,
it must be a priority to evenly implement this Act across states. Furthermore, there already exist
placement agencies that regulate supply of domestic workers as per demand. However, these are
exploitative in nature and often result in human trafficking more than providing employment. Thus, to
overcome this problem the workers should be promoted to form Unions under the Article 19(1)(c) of
the Constitution. If workers form Labor Unions at state levels and join hands together against their
exploitation and for their rights, protection and promotion becomes easier. For the same, mobile
applications can be developed and all those domestic workers willing to join the Union can be a part
through the App, which can also act as a placement committee. The mobile application can also help the
people who demand domestic workers by locating and listing out available workers and the formal
employment wages. Therefore, demand and supply can be met without involving intermediary
placement agencies.
Policy recommendations in general for women across the nation:
1) It is very important that women working at AWCs get due recognition. This means that currently
women working at AWCs are not considered as formally employed. This leaves their work
unaccounted for in the GDP. Their inclusion is necessary to ensure women empowerment and
encourage more women to participate.
2) As has been noticed by the empirical study also that several women are willing to offer care work
for a formal payment, while others are not; job cards can be given to all those who are willing to
work. These job cards will act as a registration to formal sector employment. Agencies at local
level can be set to moderate demand and supply of care workers. For example, during the
COVID-19 pandemic there was an excess demand for nurses/ or care takers of children when the
family was infected with the virus, but it became practically difficult to locate people who would
be willing to offer care work. If women, who are willing to offer their care work for a formal
payment, are brought under one bracket not only will it be easy to locate them but also formal
sector employment will be generated which can be regulated. This can work just as ration cards
in India work.
3) Gender equality in care work can be ensured when men are promoted to care for their
responsibilities too such as taking care of an infant should not only be borne by women. This can
be promoted by ensuring that just as Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, a paid paternity act is also

mandated upon private sector and government employers.
4) In rural India, families bear children because they think of them as a social security for their old
age- as someone who would earn for them or carryforward their agriculture business from a very
young age itself. Therefore, developing strong pension schemes for rural India must be a priority.
Moreover, since the rural women are illiterate or lack essential market required skills, their
opportunity cost to work is very low, which frames their mindset to just look after their families.
Therefore, building social infrastructure and helping women to setup small businesses in
traditional works like weaving should be promoted. For the same, India has allocated budget for
SHGs. Although, India currently has 6.6 million SHGs with 72 million people party to it, a study
by Scroll.in reported germination of inequalities within this too. It was found out that loans were
preferentially given to groups with more educated women, as banks saw profit and lesser chances
of NPA in such cases. Therefore. The focus of the government should not only be to allocate
budget for such initiatives but also ensure that women are trained and educated for better
representation and thus, reduce inequalities. This can be done in collaboration with NGOs and
under the Skill India initiative of the government.
5) Some unnoticed changes that might bring about a behavioral change or change in the psychology
could be revising textbooks or ensuring that advertisements and daily soaps telecasted are gender
neutral as far as possible. For example- often in advertisements of cleansing products only
women are shown to be doing cleaning job. Ariel in its advertisement tried to neutralize this job
by showing that cleaning is not only a woman’s job and started a new trend- #ShareTheLoad to
spread awareness and promote equality. Such small initiatives should be taken by private
enterprises to bring about a change in the age-old perspective on care work so that children grow
up with gender neutral views and the gender gap in care work can be reduced.

CONCLUSION
Much of this research work focuses on bringing in light the importance of care economy and the
condition of women. While the required policy changes or upgradation can be highlighted from the study
itself, a few that should be stressed upon is the fact that merely generating equal employment
opportunities for women and not aiming to reduce their care work will in no way motivate women to
participate in the labor force. Moreover, if care work is valued at all levels, the need to generate
additional employment reduces altogether. To put it simply, if care work itself gets recognition the
opportunity cost of it will reduce and women will bear lesser loss in both monetary and qualitative
aspects. A balance between leisure time, that is necessary to ensure good physical and mental health,
and care work time needs to be ensured. This can happen only if men equally participate in sharing the
burden and government acts as a facilitator for the same through its policies and schemes and social
overhead capital.
Once valuation is successfully looked after, women empowerment will follow. Care work by women
also belies the belief of self-interest that market economies propagate. If developing nations like India
start focusing on care economy, its GDP has the potential to increase at a faster rate as this part of
economy is contrasting to the other capitalist counterparts. This contrast stated is in the sense that care
economy can never experience any recessionary period because humankind throughout their existence
will require care. Children will keep taking birth and humans will keep getting aged. A decrease in
demand for care work can never be observed, while an increase at faster rates can be experienced.
Therefore, it is comparatively a safer section of the economy to invest in. In fact, once the nation
completely adopts itself to valuing women’s care work, the need to allocate huge budget for women
empowerment will reduce.
Sharing is caring is the first moral value we learn when kids. This learning needs to meet implementation
with a little modified meaning- “sharing” the “caring” work of women will justify the real meaning of
the phrase and for a change care of the caretakers will be ensured, which altogether goes overlooked.
Economies around the world have started giving uneven attention to this problem. However, there is a
long way to go. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been formulated that includes women
empowerment and gender equality as two of the qualities but they too fail to mention the importance of
care economy in achieving these goals. Therefore, since we know that gender inequality and suppression
of women are major problems around the world, we look for its solutions. Whereas on the other hand,
economies globally realized it quite late that undue attention to care economy is the root problem, while
few undeveloped economies have still not perceived this as a problem and that is exactly the real
problem! Until economies all over the world identify care economy as an important aspect of the overall
economy, finding global solutions to it seems a far cry.
Narrowing the perspective to the Indian economy- although India has identified the problem of
inappropriate regard given to care economy, it still lacks in formally defining the problem. Unless
problems are well-stated and has required quantitative data, finding solutions seems unlikely. India has
huge potential to base its economic growth on the development of women. This has also been stated by
ILO in its reports on care economy, as has also been discussed by this research study. The nation is
already late in capturing the right but it’s never too late to start acting! If women are to be empowered
in a patriarchal society like India, care economy needs to be addressed not only through budgetary
allocations but also through bringing about a psychological change.

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India's Care Economy: Safekeeping the Safekeepers

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CARE ECONOMY IN INDIA

-Safekeeping the safekeepers-

SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT (2021)

Under the guidance of

Photo source: Google images

Dr. Sayak Bhattacharya

Dr. Sayak Bhattacharya

Date: 1 July, 2021

Date: 1 July, 2021

i| Care Economy in India

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

Photo source: Google images

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND FIGURES

FIGURE 6- Availability of Maternity Benefits at workplaces

Photo source: Google images

vi| Care Economy in India

2| Care Economy in India

3| Care Economy in India

would take care of the children. Whereas now-a-days, with

4| Care Economy in India

5| Care Economy in India

6| Care Economy in India

8| Care Economy in India

10| Care Economy in India

11| Care Economy in India

I. MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT

13| Care Economy in India

II. PRADHN MANTRI UJJWALA YOJANA-

14| Care Economy in India

III. PRADHAN MANTRI MATRU VANDANA YOJANA-

15| Care Economy in India

16| Care Economy in India

17| Care Economy in India

An investment to build a SOC-

19| Care Economy in India

that Kamal Haasan, even after understanding and addressing 40%

Further, 40 per cent of the respondents were voluntarily

21| Care Economy in India

themselves are least concerned about taking care of themselves Maybe

question of availability of maternity benefits at their job place, an

22| Care Economy in India

work, it definitely then becomes the moral duty of men too to

23| Care Economy in India

primary education itself are taught in an unbiased manner on topics

24| Care Economy in India

disproportionately falls on them. A World Bank blogs mention

26| Care Economy in India

27| Care Economy in India

28| Care Economy in India

30| Care Economy in India

32| Care Economy in India

22) Data Sources: World Bank Data, ILO & PIB

33| Care Economy in India

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