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The process of nation building cannot be limited to only expanding working hours, but it has to focus on improving work conditions and pushing for norms that are inclusive and not blind to socio-cultural realities of contexts

In the last few days, there have been discussions on why India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world, and how youngsters must volunteer to work at least 70 hours a week to improve the productivity and ensure the country’s development. Several industry leaders have supported this view while others pointed to the long-term health effects of having long working hours. Some felt that equating productivity with working hours can be problematic and extra hours only act as a differentiator in the workplace and would leave no time for personal and social life.

But most of these discussions missed, the basic point that — to be able to work 70 hours a week, can be a privilege and is reserved for a particular population who does not have to face the realities of a gendered life with defined roles or the pressures of socio-cultural norms. To assume that ‘work’ is only in an office, further assumes that “working life” is limited to hours recorded in an office timesheet, and which does not recognise the other forms of ‘productive’ work that women have to perform daily for the effective functioning of a society. So, this kind of norm setting in offices can act as a barrier to the entry and retention of women in the workforce. From a gender lens, the simple and obvious fact remains that women are burdened with both paid and multi-task and participate in unpaid work and have responsibilities that go beyond their professional ‘paid’ lives. In all contexts, the most important factor which determines the engagement and participation of women in paid work is preference.

According to the ILO, this ‘preference’ is in itself underlined by socio-economic constraints and the pressure to conform to gender roles. The main challenges faced by women entering the workforce range from gender roles, social and cultural dynamics, work-life balance, lack of public infrastructure, and lack of affordable and quality child care facilities. The structure of Indian families, the roles of women within them, and the care responsibilities expected to be undertaken thus ensure that women are working as full-time managers within the domestic space. But the work done within this space is not ‘economically’ acknowledged and considered as labour.
The recently released official labour force survey data points that in India 40 per cent women of the working age group are working or looking for jobs compared to 83 per cent men in 2022-23. But another 40 per cent women are involved in domestic unpaid work and if we include them into the formal definition of labour force then more women are working in India compared to men. If we also look at the time spent by men and women in different paid and unpaid activities then the bigger gender gap in the unpaid workforce participation rate is also reflected in spending less time in such activities by men compared with women in India.

The Time Use Survey, which captures time spent in different activities shows that on average, women spend daily more than six hours on these unpaid activities whereas men spend daily two and a half hours only in 2019. But, it is important to note that the average Indian spends more than seven hours daily in all paid and unpaid activities and overall women spend more time compared to men.

The time spent on two types of unpaid activities – domestic chores and care work for household members – was considerably higher for employed and unemployed women. But the labour market status (whether employed or outside labour force) for men, does not determine men’s time spent in unpaid activities in India. It is worth noting, that within unpaid activities, there is a strict gendered difference in time spent, as women spend more than 5 hours, and men spend little above 2.5 hours across tasks. So, the socio-cultural practices and patrilineal society continues to determine the role and ‘work’ of women both inside the house and outside, at their workplaces.