Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
NRN Murthy wants Indians to work 60 hours a week to revive the economy. Did he forget the unpaid care work by women on which the economy is supported?
Coronavirus is the threat that the entire world is facing right now. It has hit all the sectors of life. The most affected is the health and the economy. In response to the economy slow down Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy shared his thoughts in an interview with ET Now.
He said ‘We should take a pledge that we will work ten hours a day, six days a week – as against 40 hours a week – for the next 2-3 years so that we can fast-track and grow the economy much faster.’
Now just like any other man Mr Murthy forgot to consider women’s unpaid care work before suggesting this office schedule.
We have often heard men say that ‘what do women do’, ‘life is so much full of comfort for women’ ‘ghar pe reh ke aakhir karti kya hai?’ (what work do women do by staying at home?).
But we never realize that the work at home which women do is also work, often not counted as such. No matter how much we talk about equality in households work, in most households it’s often the ‘ghar ki bahu jo ghar sambhalti hai’. (the daughter-in-law is meant to take care of the house).
Even if a woman is “allowed to work” after marriage, in the eyes of the society she still is supposed to manage the house single-handedly. Sadly, people assume that this household work just doesn’t require any time, effort or energy at all. Hence it is unpaid household work.
Maybe that’s what makes people like Narayan Murthy think that we are capable of working 60 hours a week to revive the country’s economy.
When we talk about work, an image of people in formal clothes working in big companies and smashing their heads on laptops is what crosses our mind. What we often neglect is the unpaid labour that women do.
Now according to CEO of Oxfam India Amitabh Behar, ‘“Unpaid care work refers to all unpaid labour performed (mostly by women and girls) in households such as looking after the elderly, the children and the indisposed as domestic work including cleaning, cooking and washing, among others.”
As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Women in India spend around five hours a day on unpaid care work while men devote a mere half an hour on average.
So with the paid work many women out there also manage the unpaid care work. Hence working this long may sound doable for me. Expecting the same from women and then also expecting them to do 6 Hours of unpaid care work, because ghar ka kaam bahu nahi karegi, saas-sasur seva nahi karegi to bahu kis kaam ki (daughter-in-law holds the responsibility to take care of the house) is not acceptable.
Narayan Murthy’s comments show how we just don’t keep women needs in our minds when we talk about the economy. Obviously ‘Desh ka bhar to mardo ke kandho par hai’ right? (the responsibility of a country’s economy lies in the shoulders of men’
It’s not just Narayan Murthy, in fact, it’s a known fact that our economy stands on a very sexist foundation. This works in three ways. ~ Due to this unpaid care work, women have often been pushed away from economic opportunities and hence, do not benefit equally from the wealth generated by our economies. ~ The disproportionate burden of unpaid care work by women means they end up losing out on opportunities to participate in paid labour. ~ Men take advantage of women’s unpaid work at home that supports their longer work hours at their jobs, and this is normalised.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, women and girls put in 3.26 billion hours of unpaid care work every single day in India. Which constitutes to be about at least 10 per cent of India’s GDP. When calculated in actual terms this means women’s unpaid labour contributes INR 19 lakh crore of the GDP. This money is three times the revenue of Reliance Industries, as per 2018-19 data.
Still, it’s never taken into consideration because after all, what do women do, right? Men don’t go to work and the economy is closed, big offices don’t work and the economy is closed. Well, what we don’t see is how everyone is working diligently and doing the unpaid care work right now. But it’s not recognized by economists becasue it’s women’s unpaid labour.
Unpaid care work is the hidden engine that keeps the wheels of our economies, businesses, and societies moving. It’s high time now that it is recognized.
I read, I write, I dream and search for the silver lining in my life. Being a student of mass communication with literature and political science I love writing about things that bother me. Follow read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
Please enter your email address