Women’s Participation in Domestic Duties and Paid Employment in India: The Missing Links

Abstract

The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gender gap at 50 percentage points evidenced in regions like South Asia as reported by the International Labour Organization. Within the South Asian context, India has witnessed a decline in the female labour market participation from 34.1% in 1999–2000 to 27.2% in 2011–2012 as per the National Sample Survey Organization. Also, the domestic duties participation for women in India has increased. Women perform a large number of economic activities but most of their contributions remain underestimated with underreporting of women’s work. The present paper is contextualized within the emerging labour process theories to understand the gender differentials in employment trends in India. There is an attempt to analyse women’s unpaid work with specific emphasis on their participation in household and related activities (domestic duties), thereby exploring intra-household dynamics and role of socio-cultural norms in interpreting gender roles in the household. The paper engages with intersections of caste, marital status and household size to understand women’s constraints to participate in paid employment within the emerging labour processes in the contemporary society.

Appendix

See Tables 5, 6 and 7.

Table 5 State-wise labour force participation rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 to 59 years by usual status (ps + ss) : gender differentials.

Table 6 Household size by reason for spending most of the time in domestic duties (MTDD), Age 15 to 59.

Table 7 Distribution of females of age 15–59 years engaged in domestic duties (in usual principal status) and willing to accept work in the household premises by type of assistance required.