Addressing Gender Inequities in Care Work

Gender Inequities in Care Work: India's Blind Spot in Social Policy

India’s persistent undervaluation of care work—and its systematic relegation to women—exposes a deeper flaw in our social policy architecture. Though policymakers routinely trumpet programs targeting women’s empowerment, the lack of attention to unpaid and informal care work betrays a structural bias that perpetuates gender and economic inequities. Recognizing, redistributing, and rewarding care work isn’t merely a moral imperative; it’s vital for economic resilience and social justice in a rapidly aging and urbanizing nation.

The Institutional Landscape: A Patchwork Policy Approach

Despite some progress, India’s care economy is trapped in legal and institutional ambiguity. The 2019 National Statistical Office's Time Use Survey revealed that Indian women perform over 10 times more unpaid care work than men, yet this data finds no reflection in GDP calculations or labor policies. Similarly, while the National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) and Ayushman Bharat nominally address care needs, their focus remains largely medicalized, sidelining the broader caregiving burden faced by women.

Legislation like the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 addresses paid parental leave but excludes most informal care workers, perpetuating their vulnerability. Moreover, stark gender norms—reinforced by inadequate policies—continue to tether women to unpaid caregiving roles. A striking example is the SBI Research (2023) estimation valuing unpaid care work at ₹22.7 lakh crore—a figure nearly equal to the combined expenditure for education, health, and rural development in the 2023-24 Union Budget. Yet, converting this recognition into structural policies remains distant.

Building the Argument: Data, Evidence, and Economic Costs

The feminization of caregiving isn’t coincidental; it’s structural. Globally, women perform three times as much unpaid care work as men, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). In India, this imbalance is amplified by occupational segregation—99% of care workers are clustered in informal, precarious roles, with over two-thirds belonging to marginalized castes and tribes. This speaks volumes about intersecting systemic inequities.

Further, women’s unpaid care burdens stymie their entry into the formal labor force. While India’s labour force participation for women is an abysmal 25.1% (World Bank, 2022), redistributing care responsibilities could unlock significant productivity. Women’s economic inactivity due to care burdens already costs India nearly 2.5% of GDP annually, as per World Economic Forum estimates. Additionally, within paid care work, the gender wage gap remains alarming—self-employed female care workers earn 61% less than males, highlighting entrenched disparities.

Policy neglect has exacerbated disparities even within paid care work. Over 88.7% of care workers are "regularly employed", but only 41% enjoy formal contracts and labor protections. Efforts to formalize these roles—endowing them with training, fair wages, and social security—are conspicuously absent, reinforcing poverty traps for millions.

The Counter-Narrative: Resource Constraints and Cultural Resistance

The strongest counter-argument lies in resource limitations and cultural inertia. Skeptics argue that India’s financial and administrative bandwidth is inadequate to ensure fair valuation of unpaid care or formalization of informal care sectors. If national surveys or subsidies for eldercare and childcare were to expand, critics fear they could siphon funds from other welfare sectors.

Moreover, deeply entrenched gender norms—framing caregiving as "women’s work"—pose a formidable cultural barrier to redistributing care within households. Initiatives like parental leave or incentives for male caregiving have historically faced lukewarm reception even in developed nations. Can such shifts truly take root in the Indian social fabric, given its hierarchical family structures?

International Perspective: Learning from Sweden's Care Economy

Sweden offers a telling counterpoint to India’s approach. With one of the world’s most equitable care systems, Sweden mandates generous parental leave shared between both parents, while investing significantly in subsidized childcare and eldercare services. According to the OECD, Sweden’s formal care sector employs a well-trained workforce, empowered by contracts, decent wages, and social protections. Importantly, these progressive measures are backed by a robust taxation system—an area where India falters, despite its soaring economic demands for eldercare.

Assessment and Structural Recommendations

India stands at a crossroads. The nation’s blind spot on care work isn’t just a moral failure—it actively undermines economic growth and gender equity. Pragmatic reforms must include a three-dimensional approach:

• Recognition: Expand Time Use Surveys and integrate unpaid care into GDP computations for realistic economic planning.
• Redistribution: Introduce paid parental leave for both genders, incentivize men’s caregiving participation, and normalize public investment in care services.
• Reward: Formalize paid care work through fair contracts, skill training, and adequate wages.

Realistically, redirecting CSR investments toward eldercare and childcare, strengthening Public-Private Partnerships, and decentralizing caregiving programs via Panchayati Raj institutions could help bridge practical gaps. More ambitiously, judicial activism—similar to Supreme Court rulings on equal pay for equal work—can challenge entrenched gender norms in caregiving roles. The alternative to inaction is an amplified care deficit that will disproportionately harm women and marginalized communities.

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