Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Women in India have theoretically attained equal status in society. They are prominent in each and every field, including politics, medicine, education, and even the military. That said, there are still loopholes related to the unequal division of household work. Jain (1982) highlighted the role of women as “productive contributor in the proper functioning of an economy” several decades ago. Jayati Ghosh (2016) noted “Women have been a part of working class since the beginning of capitalism, even then they have not been widely acknowledged as workers in their own rights”. Women often have to work outside the family for income and also have to juggle household work (such as cooking, laundry, taking care of sick ones and children). These activities also often change the way in which women are perceived in society and in the workplace. Household work, which is unpaid work, remains unrecognised and considered as a compulsory responsibility to be performed by the female member of a family. In this study, I will highlight the reasons for these loopholes and discuss contemporary issues related to literacy rates, women dropping out of the labour force, and the unequal division of household work in India.