A group of Indian women wearing traditional dress. Photo Credit: Getty Image/ISTOCKPhoto
Even after more than 75 years of independence, India’s social taunts continue against women. India may have crossed countries like Britain to become the fifth largest economy in the world, but this economic development has not taken place with a similar change in the social status of women. They should be assigned a second category status with a very low value for their labor, whether it is paid or unpaid.
Time Use Survey (TUS), 2024 recently captures this feeling released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. According to the survey, women in India spent 289 minutes per day in 2024, which are at unpaid domestic work, such as the 88 minutes spent by men on the same. Men and women also spent 75 minutes and 137 minutes respectively on unpaid care services.
When compared with the 2019 report of the same survey, the time dedicated by women for domestic work has declined by 10 minutes, while an increase in a disappointing eight Nminutes spent on employment -related activities. While many people are celebrating it as an increase in female participation in the workforce, economists have reduced such a hurry to reach the conclusion. Many of them believe that this change can indicate a growing trend among women to spend at the same time among women at the same time. It increases indirectly that amidst the growing economic crisis, it is subject to a ‘double burden’ out of frustration to complement the family’s income.
Unlike 45.8% for men, women spending 83.9% on unpaid work suggests continuity of old patriarchal norms of age, which re -connect women in the domestic field, allocating the condition of breadwiner to men. This classification comes to the club with uneven distribution of power. The one who earns is always an upper hand even in domestic affairs, while the hard work done to women is never duly rewarded.
The social structure is such that women suffer from ‘poverty of time’, in which they do not have enough time for comfort or holiday. While householders have no days, working women ‘return to work’ as they expect to fulfill their family responsibilities. It seems that fixed working hours of rhetoric exists only for men.
Expectations
Women often feel something known as ‘mother’s crime’ if they fail to meet the social standards of upbringing, but there is nothing like ‘father’s crime’ for men that fail to give enough time to their families. All expectations and complaints are directed to women because this is what we have seen and internal since childhood.
Most men get older with women to not be wrong, as they believe that it is the duty of a woman. They feel that it is the ‘responsibility’ of women to reduce several roles without a complaint.
At the root of the problem is the gender nature of our society which fails to respect women’s work or appreciates its thunder. In a male-oriented system, sacrifice is seen as the cornerstone of a woman’s existence. She is prioritizing her home and family for her career, dreams and many times, even her own.
This dominance creates a glass roof in the field of employment that prevents women from scaling to leadership roles. According to a report by Deloite, women in India held only 18.3% boardroom seats in 2023. The Indian Parliament is no different from only 74 women MPs (14%) in the current Lok Sabha, out of a total of 545.
While the rest of the world is not a paradise for women, India lags behind in many cases. Globally, women spend 2.8 hours more than men at unpaid domestic and careful work. However, as shown by the Tus survey, the difference in India is close to four hours.
This has recently been celebrated in public mindset towards women. There are films, advertisements and shows promoting a more equitable world, and the TUS survey indicates that men have begun to shoulder some domestic responsibilities in recent years.
Regardless, the Indian state still really has a long and effort to the penis similar society.
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Published – April 20, 2025 03:25 am IST