By Sunitha Bhaskar & Ujjaval Srivastava
Two recent landmark pronouncements of the Supreme Court have fundamentally reoriented India’s approach to domestic labour and the allocation of household responsibilities, setting out a transformative vision for equitable partnership. In the judgment of Shishu Pal v. Surjeet on June 11, 2026, the Supreme Court declared that homemakers build nations and their unpaid work is worth at least Rs. 30,000 monthly, a valuation established in compensation cases under the Motor Vehicles Act. The court emphasised: “It is ironic to describe a homemaker as dependent on earning members, when in reality, the household’s functioning depends substantially on the homemaker. Women’s unpaid work is estimated to contribute between 15% and 17% of India’s GDP, yet it remains unpaid and unrecognised.” It further stressed, “It is high time now that the invisible is made visible.” Critically, the apex court pointed out “this one-sided scenario is probably one of the reasons why the country has low female labour force participation, at 31.7%, since the societal framework generally presumes such responsibilities to be automatically falling upon women.”
Earlier this year, in another significant proceeding in the Supreme Court on March 20, 2026, the court strongly observed that household chores constitute a shared partnership responsibility, not a wife’s unilateral obligation, rejecting the notion that domestic work is women’s default duty. The court noted that a wife’s inability or refusal to perform household chores does not automatically constitute cruelty or serve as a valid ground for dissolution of marriage. “You’re not marrying a maid, you are marrying a life partner. You have to equally participate in cooking, washing, everything. Today’s times are different,” the court challenged centuries of patriarchal assumptions embedded in family notion and social practice. Taken together, these Supreme Court pronouncements combine economic valuation with legal direction, establishing a foundation for India to reconsider the measurement, valuation, and distribution of essential domestic unpaid work.
Understanding the current reality
The data from the Time Use Survey (TUS 2024), released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in 2025, throws a light on this hidden dimension of deprivation, revealing how women overwhelmingly shoulder the weight of unpaid work, fundamentally shaping their daily lives.
Among those aged 15-59 years participating in unpaid domestic and care activities in household, women spend a substantial 305 minutes daily on unpaid domestic work, compared to just 86 minutes for men. The disparity is evident in care-giving tasks also, where women dedicate 140 minutes daily while men contribute only 74 minutes. Crucially, entering into labour force does not liberate women from this double burden. Among those in the labour force, 94% of women still perform unpaid household chores daily, spending 233 minutes compared to just 32% of men, who spend 84 minutes. Moreover, within the labour force, 32% of women shoulder care-giving duties, spending 101 minutes daily, compared to 23% of men, who spend 73 minutes.
When women are outside the labour force, their domestic workload jumps by extra 76 minutes daily; whereas for men the increase is by a mere 20 minutes. This asymmetry reveals the vicious cycle: women cannot fully participate in the labour force because of household responsibilities, and because they remain outside the labour force, their domestic burden grows even heavier.
The path forward: From legal directives to practice
Supreme Court’s directive to make “the invisible visible” points towards a transformative solution: integrating women’s unpaid work into India’s national accounting frameworks. Formalising this recognition in national economic statistics would accomplish multiple objectives simultaneously. Countries including Australia and Canada have pioneered satellite accounts measuring unpaid care work’s economic contribution.
The United Nations has developed a framework for valuing unpaid care and domestic work. India can build on these models to adapt in the Indian context to create a comprehensive picture of unpaid care work’s role in the economy. When this work is formally recognised in national accounts, several shifts become possible: policymakers gain evidence-based rationale for prioritising childcare and eldercare infrastructure; budgetary allocations can be justified through economic data. These investments free women’s time for education, entrepreneurship, and professional advancement, while improving family well-being.
However, institutional recognition alone is insufficient. The transformation envisioned by the apex court must be reinforced through long-term social change, beginning in childhood. Education and upbringing should instill the value of shared responsibilities across all spheres of life. Workplaces must offer flexible hours and parental leave equitably to both parents, signaling that care-giving is a shared responsibility. Progressive employers already discover that such policies improve retention and productivity.
Unlocking the economic opportunity
Women currently spending 5+ hours daily on unpaid work, due to which, they cannot fully pursue education, entrepreneurship, or career advancement. The aggregate economic gains through increased workforce participation, entrepreneurial activity, and skill development would substantially exceed any investment required to reduce this burden through infrastructure and policy change.
The path forward is clear: making the invisible visible through national accounts, investing in infrastructure that reduces time-intensive household tasks, and fostering a cultural shift toward partnership in family life as mandated by the Supreme Court. By acting on the court’s directive and the survey’s evidence, India can build a future where women’s essential contributions are recognised, equitably distributed, and fully valued.
(Sunitha Bhaskar is Additional Director General and Ujjaval Srivastava is Deputy Director, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The views expressed are personal)