Becky Blab

That’s the question posed by my friend Shrayana Bhattacharya in her article on the dilemmas facing Indian women’s sustained presence in the paid workforce. The article discusses the main findings of an Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) study on working women in Delhi.

Beyond the tricky, technical dimensions of statistical reportage, the study finds that women make career choices bearing the consistent load of household work. Within the group of respondents who withdrew from employment, excessive household workload was cited as the dominant reason. The amount and nature of household work is related to marital status. Thus, 43 per cent of the single women in the city are working compared to 19 per cent of married women who are reported as workers.

Hm, no wonder so many women fight to stay single!! The independence associated with earning one’s own living is not easy to trade in for housework.

Working women rely on support from their spouses and other family members. Those from middle class and richer households hire nannies, full time maids or part time domestic help. Thus, the decision to work is primarily related to the informal arrangements available to assist female domestic workload associated with marriage and family. Fears regarding safety and mobility were the second most prominent problem associated with joining the workforce. Family structures, public space and the job market penalize women for prioritizing caring for their families while making public and market spaces more easily available to men.

I think it’s safe to say that middle class and wealthy households would simply cease to function without hired help. These informal workers form the crux of the Indian economy.

In a policy climate where much discussion has been focused on affirmative action and demand oriented policies such as reservations, the study ascribes significance to supply-side solutions. Unless women feel safe and confident about managing household tasks and care for their children and the elderly, increased female work participation would create greater stress for working women.

They recommend investment in infrastructure like safe public transport, the institutionalisation of childcare and elderly care, and workplace reform to allow for more flexible arrangements.

‘Care work’ needs to be recognised as an active ingredient in national economic growth. It is not necessary for all women to find paid jobs. Urban women may seek work or choose not to join the workforce. However, the Delhi survey affirms that women are making such choices within a predetermined patriarchal context, where women are cast as the sole providers of household care and their responsibilities as daughters, housewives, mothers and sisters remain invisible and unvalued. While women’s choice not to work is rendered acceptable, can women choose not to care?