The Invisible Backbone Recognising Women’s Unpaid Labour

Women’s unpaid labour refers to work that women perform without direct financial remuneration, including household chores, caregiving for children and the elderly, and emotional support within families. This form of labour, although critical, is largely invisible in traditional economic metrics like GDP, because it does not involve formal market transactions.

Its significance lies in the fact that such labour underpins the functioning of both households and economies. For instance, by managing domestic responsibilities, women free men and others to participate in formal employment, indirectly contributing to wealth creation. Globally, women spend on average 2.8 times more hours on unpaid care and domestic work than men, highlighting the scale and economic importance of this invisible contribution. Recognising this labour is essential for equitable policymaking and sustainable social development.

The undervaluation of women’s labour is rooted in structural and ideological forces. Historically, economic and policy priorities have privileged the male breadwinner model, focusing on market-based production while relegating caregiving and domestic work as secondary. Feminist scholars like Isabella Bakker and Nancy Fraser argue that this division perpetuates gender hierarchies and maintains women’s labour as non-productive in societal and economic discourse.

Additionally, social norms and the gendered division of labour conceal the economic value of care work. Antonella Picchio notes that separating production from social reproduction has created new power imbalances, positioning women in subordinate roles. As a result, emotional labour—supporting relationships, household management, and mental wellbeing—remains largely uncounted, despite being critical to the sustainability of families and societies.

Several countries have enacted legal and policy measures to formally recognise unpaid care work. Bolivia, through Article 338 of its Constitution, acknowledges household work as an economic activity that generates social welfare and wealth, entitling housewives to social security. Trinidad and Tobago passed the Counting Unremunerated Work Act, 1996, mandating statistical authorities to measure unpaid work, disaggregated by gender, and assign monetary value. Argentina introduced employment contracts for domestic workers, enabling women to receive pension credits for unpaid care work, such as raising children.

These measures provide models for integrating unpaid labour into economic metrics and social protections, but they are often partial. Most fail to recognise emotional and mental labour, which remains unquantified despite its importance for household and societal functioning.

Failure to recognise unpaid and emotional labour has multifaceted consequences. Economically, it leads to the systemic undervaluation of care work, restricting women’s access to formal employment, social security, and financial independence. For example, women constrained by domestic duties may not participate fully in the labour market, affecting household income and broader economic productivity.

Socially, the burden of care remains disproportionately feminised, reinforcing gender inequalities and limiting the agency of women from marginalised socio-economic backgrounds. Legally, the lack of recognition denies women equitable access to property, pensions, or labour protections, as highlighted in India before the Madras High Court ruling in Kannaian Naidu and Others vs Kamsala Ammal and Others (2023), where the court acknowledged household labour as contributing to family assets. Without policy recognition, these inequalities perpetuate, and women’s contribution to sustaining economies and communities remains invisible.

Economic priorities such as the relentless focus on GDP growth, infrastructure investment, and market productivity often marginalise care-related work. Policymakers tend to treat these as secondary concerns, leading to the diversion of public resources from essential services like childcare, elder care, and mental health support—areas where women predominantly contribute.

Policy frameworks that do not account for unpaid and emotional labour fail to address gendered power imbalances. While some countries have initiated reforms, most efforts are scattered and partial. In India, for instance, no comprehensive law recognises or compensates unpaid domestic work. Thus, the invisibility of women’s labour persists not because the work lacks value, but because policy frameworks are structurally biased toward male-dominated, market-focused production, leaving care work unrecognised both socially and economically.

One illustrative case is Bolivia, where recognising household work as economic activity allows housewives access to social security benefits, formally valuing their contribution to society. Similarly, in Argentina, pension credits for domestic work enable women who raise children or care for families to accumulate social security benefits, creating long-term financial security.

In the judicial domain, India’s Madras High Court in Kannaian Naidu and Others vs Kamsala Ammal and Others (2023) ruled that household labour contributes indirectly to the acquisition of family assets, entitling the wife to an equal share in property. Such examples highlight how legal recognition can correct historic inequities, validate women’s contributions, and integrate unpaid labour into economic and social frameworks.

Designing a policy to recognise emotional and domestic labour would require a multifaceted approach. First, the policy should include a legal definition of unpaid care work and emotional labour, encompassing household management, caregiving, and mental support, with mechanisms to assign measurable economic value. Second, it should provide social security benefits such as pension credits, health insurance, and access to government schemes, similar to models in Bolivia and Argentina.

Third, the policy should aim at gender-transformative social change, incentivising men’s participation in household work and caregiving to reduce the disproportionate burden on women. Fourth, it should mandate data collection and monitoring by statistical authorities to quantify unpaid labour, informing budgetary allocations and public services for childcare, elder care, and mental health support. Together, these elements would formally recognise, value, and redistribute care responsibilities, addressing both economic and social dimensions of gender equality.