Defining Women’s Work: Public vs. Private Spheres

When we talk about “work,” the image that often comes to mind is someone heading to an office, a factory, or a farm field. Rarely do we picture someone cooking meals for the family, washing clothes, or looking after children. Yet, these tasks consume hours of effort every single day. The question of what constitutes women’s work is not just an academic exercise – it is central to understanding why women’s economic contributions remain largely invisible, undercounted, and undervalued across society.

The public-private divide in work 🔗

One of the most persistent frameworks shaping how we understand work is the division between the public sphere and the private sphere. The public sphere refers to spaces outside the home – offices, markets, government institutions, factories. The private sphere, on the other hand, encompasses the household and family domain. Historically, men have dominated the public sphere while women have been associated with the private one.

This is not a natural or biological arrangement. It is a social construct reinforced over centuries through cultural norms, religious teachings, legal frameworks, and economic structures. In India, this division has deep roots in patriarchal traditions that assign caregiving, cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing exclusively to women, while men are expected to be the “breadwinners” operating in the outside world.

The problem is not that household work exists. The problem is that it is systematically treated as less important than market-based work. When a man earns a wage at a construction site, it is counted in the GDP. When a woman spends the same number of hours – or more – managing the household, it counts as nothing in economic terms.

What does women’s work actually look like? 🔗

Women’s work, especially in rural and semi-urban India, is a complex mix of productive and reproductive tasks. Productive tasks include activities like sowing seeds, tending livestock, processing grain, or making goods for sale. Reproductive tasks include cooking, cleaning, fetching water, gathering firewood, and caring for children and elderly family members.

What makes women’s work distinctive is that these two categories are deeply intertwined. A woman working on her family’s agricultural plot does not have a clear separation between “farm work” and “home work.” She may tend to crops in the morning, prepare meals for the family at midday, return to the field in the afternoon, and then manage childcare in the evening. There is no clock-in or clock-out. There are no weekends off.

The invisibility of unpaid work 🔗

A significant portion of women’s work falls into the category of unpaid labour. According to data highlighted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), women globally perform over 75 percent of total unpaid care work. In India, the gap is even more striking. Women spend nearly ten times more hours on unpaid domestic work compared to men.

The Time Use Survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in 2019 found that women in India spent an average of around 299 minutes per day on unpaid domestic services, while men spent just 97 minutes. This massive disparity reveals how deeply entrenched the expectation is that household work is women’s responsibility.

Because this work is unpaid, it does not appear in national income accounts. Women who perform it full-time are often classified as “non-workers” or “economically inactive” in census data – a label that fundamentally misrepresents their contribution to the household and the economy.

Cultural norms, not free choice 🔗

A common argument in favour of the existing division of labour is that women “choose” to stay home and manage the household. But this framing ignores the structural constraints that shape these so-called choices. In many parts of India, girls are socialised from a young age to view domestic work as their primary duty. Education for girls may be deprioritised. Mobility is restricted. Marriage is seen as the defining milestone of a woman’s life, and post-marriage, her role is firmly anchored in the domestic sphere.

These are not free choices made in a vacuum. They are outcomes of a system where cultural norms dictate the division of labour along gender lines. The UNDP’s Gender Social Norms Index has consistently shown that a large majority of people worldwide – including in India – hold at least one bias against women in areas such as politics, education, economics, or physical integrity. These biases directly influence who is expected to do what kind of work.

The role of patriarchal structures 🔗

Patriarchal norms do not just assign women to the private sphere – they also devalue the work done within it. Cooking a meal for a family of six is physically demanding and requires skill, planning, and time management. Yet it carries no economic value and minimal social prestige. In contrast, the same cooking skills applied in a restaurant – typically a male-dominated space – are rewarded with wages and recognition.

This devaluation extends to agricultural work. Women constitute a significant portion of the agricultural labour force in India, performing tasks like weeding, transplanting, harvesting, and post-harvest processing. Yet, land ownership remains overwhelmingly in the hands of men. According to the Agriculture Census, women hold only about 14 percent of operational landholdings. Without ownership, women’s contribution to farming is rendered invisible – they are seen as “helpers” rather than “farmers.”

The economic cost of ignoring women’s work 🔗

The undervaluation of women’s unpaid work is not just a social justice issue. It has real economic consequences. If unpaid household and care work were assigned a monetary value, it would constitute a significant share of the GDP. A report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that women’s unpaid work globally is worth approximately $10 trillion annually – roughly equivalent to 13 percent of global GDP.

When women’s work remains unrecognised, policy frameworks fail them. Social security schemes, pension plans, and labour protections are designed around the concept of formal, paid employment. Women who spend their lives in unpaid domestic labour have no access to these safety nets. In old age, they are entirely dependent on family members, leaving them economically vulnerable.

The double burden 🔗

Even when women enter the formal workforce, the expectation that they will continue managing the household does not disappear. This creates what is widely referred to as the double burden – women are expected to fulfil their professional responsibilities and their domestic duties simultaneously. This is a major factor behind women dropping out of the labour force, particularly after marriage or childbirth.

India’s female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has historically been among the lowest in the world. While recent data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has shown some improvement, the overall rate still reflects how structural barriers – including the unequal distribution of domestic work – keep women out of paid employment.

Recognising, reducing, and redistributing 🔗

The ILO and several feminist economists have proposed a framework often called the “3R” approach – Recognise, Reduce, and Redistribute unpaid care work.

Recognise: The first step is acknowledging that unpaid domestic and care work is indeed “work.” Time-use surveys, like the one conducted by the NSO, are vital tools for making this work visible in data and policy discussions.

Reduce: Investments in public infrastructure – such as clean water supply, affordable childcare, cooking fuel, and sanitation – can significantly reduce the time women spend on domestic chores. For instance, access to piped water eliminates hours spent fetching water from distant sources.

Redistribute: The responsibility for household work needs to be shared more equitably between men and women. This requires not just individual behaviour change but also supportive policies like paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, and public awareness campaigns that challenge traditional gender roles.

Policy efforts and the way forward 🔗

Several government initiatives have attempted to address aspects of this issue, though much remains to be done. Schemes like programmes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development aim to support women’s economic empowerment through skill development and self-help groups. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been particularly significant because it guarantees paid work to rural households, and women have constituted a substantial share of its workforce – often exceeding 50 percent in many states.

However, broader systemic change requires going beyond individual schemes. It demands a rethinking of how “work” is defined in official statistics, how labour laws are structured, and how social protection is extended to those in the informal and unpaid economy. The conversation must also include men – not as bystanders, but as active participants in household responsibilities.

What do you think? 🔗

If unpaid household work were included in GDP calculations, how would that change the way we design economic and welfare policies? And in your own household or community, do you see the division of labour between men and women shifting, or does it remain largely the same as previous generations?

References

1. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/care-economy/lang–en/index.htm
2. https://mospi.gov.in/time-use-survey
3. https://www.undp.org/publications/2023-gender-social-norms-index-gsni
4. https://agricoop.nic.in/
5. https://agcensus.nic.in/
6. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality
7. https://dge.gov.in/dge/periodic-labour-force-survey-plfs
8. https://wcd.nic.in/