20 May 2024 – The Indian Express

India’s Economy of Care

• A recent Supreme Court decision ruled that denying a government employee in Himachal Pradesh access to Childcare Leave (CCL) violated the fundamental rights of working women.
• This decision highlights the topic of unpaid care work, which is overwhelmingly carried out by women, but is frequently disregarded. In India, 84% of the time spent providing unpaid care is performed by women. The foundation of the country’s care economy is this enormous load of invisible, underappreciated, underpaid, and unacknowledged labour.
• This editorial explores the many facets of India’s care economy, emphasising the need for a more equitable division of responsibilities and childcare in particular.

What are the Indian Constitution’s provisions pertaining to working women?

• Article 14: This establishes the principle of equality before the law and the right to equal protection for all people.
• This also applies to working women, forbidding gender-based discrimination in the workplace.
• Article 15: Discrimination based on gender (among others) is forbidden in a number of contexts, including public employment.
• This guarantees women’s equal access to government employment possibilities.
• Article 16: This ensures equal opportunities in public employment situations. This shields women against job discrimination and other gender-based disadvantages.
• Article 39: There are various stipulations in this article under the Directive Principles of State Policy.
• (a) declares that every citizen, regardless of gender, has the right to a sufficient means of subsistence
• (d) asserts that men and women should receive equal compensation for equivalent labour.
• (e) protect workers’ health, stop child labour, and refrain from using money to force people into inappropriate jobs.
• Article 42: The state is directed to establish measures for ensuring fair and compassionate working conditions as well as maternity leave under this section of the Directive Principles.
• This translates to giving women’s maternity benefits and safe working conditions.
• The CCL Policy of the Central Government grants female employees, in addition to maternity leave, 730 days of paid leave to care for up to two children under the age of 18.
• The specific reference to female employees as recipients may be interpreted as a legitimate acknowledgement that women bear the brunt of child-rearing duties for longer than the first six months following delivery (the time frame covered by maternity leave).
• Men may only apply for CCL if they are fatherless single men.
• Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Agenda for Women addresses on gender equality and girls’ and women’s empowerment.
• 1 Put an end to all prejudice against women and girls worldwide.
• 4 Acknowledge and respect unpaid caregiving and household labour by offering public services, building infrastructure, enacting social protection laws, and encouraging shared responsibilities within the family and home as suitable for the country.
• 5 Guarantee women’s equal access to leadership possibilities and full and effective engagement in all spheres of political, economic, and public life decision-making.
• c Implement and fortify sensible laws and policies to advance gender parity and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

A Care Economy: What Is It?

• About: The term “care economy” describes the area of the economy that includes the provision of care and support services, especially those that are associated with eldercare, childcare, education, health, and other social services.
• It includes caregiving—both paid and unpaid—that is essential to human survival, well-being, and procreation.
• A “hidden care economy” results from its underappreciation or lack of recognition despite its contribution to addressing material, emotional, and developmental needs.
• It is not the same as the Monetized Economy, which is the official market-based structure in which money is used to buy and sell goods and services.
• It includes sectors including retail, manufacturing, technology, and the formal healthcare industry.
• In a monetized economy, the market price of labour directly determines its value.
• History: Feminist economists have long criticised the traditional concept of “work” for disregarding unpaid labour, especially the important roles that women play in households.
• The Beijing Platform for Action, which promoted appreciating and acknowledging women’s contributions to volunteerism, household work, and caregiving, was born out of this dilemma in 1995.
• Associated Terms:
• Paid Care Work: This category includes paid care positions in fields such as education, health, personal care, and domestic work.
• In care professions such as nursing, housekeeping, personal caregiving, teaching, and child care assistance, women predominate.
• Unpaid Care and Domestic Work: This category covers community/volunteer services, caregiving for children, the elderly, and the sick, as well as domestic services like cooking and cleaning.
• As per this, multitasking blurs the lines between direct and indirect care, with direct care involving dependents and indirect care involving household chores.
• The care diamond stands for the four primary players in the delivery of care: the state, markets, households, and communities.

What are the main concerns with India’s care economy?

• Restricted Policy Coverage: The care economy’s current rules, such those pertaining to maternity benefits and childcare leave, frequently have a narrow scope and application, especially when it comes to small businesses and the unorganised sector.
• The Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 is limited to businesses that employ ten or more people.
• The Economic Census data shows that 98% of Indian businesses are “micro” businesses, meaning they employ fewer than ten people.
• Thirty percent of businesses, even in registered manufacturing, employ fewer than ten people.
• As a result, many women are left to juggle job and caregiving obligations without sufficient support or protection.
• Limited Workforce engagement: Women’s professional growth possibilities and workforce engagement are sometimes impeded by the disproportionate weight of care work.
• According to PLFS 2022-23, the female labour force participation rate in India was 37% in 2023. This is an improvement, but it is still below the target rate.
• Due to the pressure many women have to put caring for others before paid work, there are fewer women in formal industries and positions of decision-making.
• Lack of Accessibility to Care Services: In many regions of India, it is still difficult to find reasonably priced and high-quality care services, such as daycare centres and eldercare assistance.
• The stress of providing care to families is further increased by the scarcity and high expense of care services, particularly for low-income households.
• According to estimates, the unpaid care and household work performed by women accounts for 15%–17% of India’s GDP.
• Social Stigma and Cultural Norms: The idea that women should be the primary carers is frequently supported by societal expectations and cultural norms.
• This stigma keeps men from taking an active role in providing care and feeds the cycle of unequal caregiving within households.

The Way Ahead:

• The three-reality framework
• Acknowledge that moms now shoulder a disproportionate amount of childcare obligations.
• Redistribute childcare to lessen the burden on mothers:
• In households where fathers are more involved
• Through accessible, high-quality childcare choices in the neighbourhood, households outside of
• Rethink childcare as a communal obligation rather than a personal hardship for moms.
• Micro-credentials and Skill Recognition: Establish a national framework for acknowledging the abilities acquired via unpaid caregiving.
• One way to do this would be to provide micro-credentials that attest to proficiency in childcare, eldercare, or household management. These credentials would help carers who return to the paid sector find new jobs.
• Provide training courses to assist carers in honing their abilities and possibly making the switch to positions requiring paid caregiving.
• Increasing Investment in the Care Economy: According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), by 2030, there might be 475 million new jobs created worldwide as a result of increased investments in the care services industry.
• India now spends less than 1% of its GDP on the care economy, which is small compared to other countries.
• Nearly 70% of the 11 million jobs that might be created in India with direct public investment equal to 2% of GDP would go to women.
• India too can benefit from the ‘womenomics’ changes implemented by Japan.
• Technology and Innovation: Using technology to build online networks that provide resources and support services to carers; these networks may provide details on daycare centres, senior living communities, or training courses.
• Public-Private Partnerships: Fostering collaborations among NGOs, the commercial sector, and the government to create creative solutions for accessible and reasonably priced care services.
• This could entail tax benefits for businesses who provide on-site child care for staff members or assistance for social entrepreneurs in the care industry.
• Encourage businesses to promote the care economy through their corporate social responsibility efforts. Examples of such projects include childcare centres sponsored by firms in low-income regions or flexible work schedules for staff members who are also carers.