The unpaid, unrecognised burden of the women-led care economy of India
At SheSparks 2026, social activist and political scientist, Ranjana Kumari, spoke about the need to recognise all women’s contribution to India’s GDP.
Domestic labour, most of it at least, has been traditionally considered to be a woman’s duty. The job involves making one’s home and surroundings comfortable. Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research, calls it the “care economy” and regards it as the foundation upon which other economies are based. But the care economy does not have many economical benefits.
“What if all the women in the world refuse to do this? They decide to stop caring for and managing their surroundings. Imagine the consequences!” said Kumari, addressing the audience gathered at SheSparks, YourStory’s flagship summit for women.
Unrecognised labour
When Kumari got the opportunity to restructure the International Labour Organization, she was looking at labour density and found out that in India, only 1/3rd of women work.
“Do you agree with that statement? Doesn’t every woman in India work? But the care economy is invisible, and all their efforts remain unrecognised. Each one of us, whether we are sitting in an urban area, a village, or even a slum, is the CEO of our house,” she said.
The political scientist went on to say that if we recognise a woman’s work at home, then every working woman is working multiple shifts every single day. In fact, she and her team ran a mathematical estimate on the total unrecognised labour of the care economy in India, and the number came to a whopping $10 trillion.
“That number is also only a conservative estimate. $10 trillion is a figure larger than so many industries, conglomerates and companies put together. That is how much women are contributing to the GDP that remains uncounted,” she explained.
The emotional cost of caring
Kumari brought up an anecdote of a time when she, as a UN official, was travelling in a flight seated next to the French ambassador. The two of them were discussing women’s invisible labour. The French lady had pointed out that women end up paying a deep emotional cost, and Kumari agreed with her.
“We pay a heavy emotional cost from ensuring our kids go to school on time, our husbands get to work okay with everything they need, all the way to making sure that the elderly parents and in-laws are taken care of. We also need to ensure that all is well in our immediate society. Women stretch themselves as much as they can,” she said.
There is a dire need to recognise this. She said that such a volume of labour landing only on women’s shoulders is “complete injustice”. Only when it is officially recognised by the country, she believes, people and policymakers will reduce the burden on women.
“Where is it written? By which religion or document? There is nothing official that says that women need to spend their entire lives doing this. That labour needs to be restructured and its volume needs to be redistributed,” she said.
The way forward
Kumari clarified that the only way to move ahead would be by providing economic benefits to such work.
“The first and foremost factor would be economic recognition of this work. You must value what women contribute to the GDP of this country. Or else it can’t go on like this. Women who choose to not do it end up suffering from guilt. All kinds of violence emerges from this lack of recognition,” she said.
After recognition comes benefits. Policies will have to be structured according to a woman’s specific needs. For instance, if a woman from a village is walking long distances to get water, the availability of said water needs to be ensured.
“Taking women for granted and making them slog not only reflects poorly in your home but also in institutions like our Parliament. We have been independent for almost eight decades, and we are still debating the appropriate number of women in the Parliament. Women need to be represented everywhere or who will fight for you?” she asked.
Kumari concluded her session by saying that women need to take up the front spaces and the front benches in a meeting hall, and make it a priority to never sideline themselves again.
Edited by Swetha Kannan