Gender\ninequality is one of the social issues that everyone lends their ear for but is\nsolicited by only a few intellectuals. It is a part of the discussions long\ndrawn from the problems pertaining to patriarchy, disempowered females, and\npoverty. However, what most of us fail to draw our attention to is the\nimportance of allocating time efficiently for women, to make them independent\nenough to utilise their time as and how they wish to. This opinion wants to\ndrive home an important point about the consequences of the unpaid care\neconomy, which has encapsulated majority of the female population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To\nelaborate, \u2018time poverty\u2019 \u2013 a concept which describes the relative shortage of\ntime for leisure for a person who is employed – is a case in point here. It can\nalso be seen as a consequence of the burden of the unpaid care economy, which\neats up most of the time for women. Evidence suggests that the burden of such\nwork falls disproportionately on women, leading them either to withdraw from\nthe labour force or reduce their working hours to compensate. 352 minutes, on\nan average per day, are spent on the unpaid economy by a woman, as against 52\nminutes spent by a man, says OECD<\/a>.\nIt is a striking fact that shows the severity of gender inequality, where\nIndian women invest 577% more of their time looking after domestic chores and\ntaking care of their children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A\ntheory by Claudia Goldin<\/em> asserts\nthat labour force participation (LFP) of married women first declines and then\nrises as countries develop, in correspondence to \u2018Feminisation\nU- Hypothesis\u2019.<\/a> To put it in a simpler context, \u201cit\nis when women are poorly educated, their only wage labour outside the home and\nfamily farm is in manual work against which a strong social stigma exists, but\nwith higher education and their absorption into white-collar jobs, the stigma\ndisappears\u201d. <\/em>However, what recent data suggests is the non-compliance of\nFeminisation U-hypothesis, about the effects on the unpaid care economy. It\nhappens when women with higher education in urban areas are withdrawing from\nthe labour force, rather than devoting their time to their paid work. It is\nbecause women having children below the age of five years are most likely to be\nconstrained to participate in the labour force, due to their responsibility of\ntaking care of children, and justifying her \u2018traditional\u2019 role as a woman. The\nongoing debates on declining LFP should be enough to realise the importance of\nconducting time use surveys (TUS), to recognise the portion of time spent in\nthe unpaid work, and the paid work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Falling\nFemale Labour Force Participation <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis a well-known fact that India has fallen into the trap of declining female\nlabour force participation from 36.7 % in 2005, to 26% in 2018<\/a>[n1]<\/a> ,\n[1]<\/a>while\naccrediting its loss to the problem of time-allocation between children and\nwork \u2013 also known as \u2018motherhood penalty\u2019. It, therefore, makes it crucial to\nhonour the statistical invisibility of the care economy, and to monetise the\nefforts of mothers. It was last in 1998-99 when a time use survey was done to\nascertain the number of hours spent by each gender on paid as well as unpaid\nwork. Regular conduct of TUS is an essential step towards helping recognise the\nexisting gender differentials, and therefore, it seems to be an adequate tool\nto inform about gender parity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless,\nit is equally crucial to introduce policies that relate to the concerned\nmatter, such as gender budgeting efforts are undertaken at both national, as\nwell as sub-national levels. Gender budgeting itself does not translate itself\ninto better opportunities for women but provides a way to improve the\ninfrastructural facilities for the same. The restrictive architecture of safe\npublic transport is one of the key impediments for increasing female LFP, and\nit is therefore required to incentivise women to contribute to the paid\neconomy. Creating day care centres, creche facilities, paid maternity leaves\ncan be some of the features of infrastructural improvements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis rightly said that sometimes some people (read women) have to put in double\nthe efforts of other people (read men) to achieve the same stature. Still, it\nis the women who have to face the hardships to become successful. A\nwell-informed policy decision is one that helps to transcribe the efforts with\nthe implementation with effective monitoring and evaluation. It is no longer a\nsurprising phenomenon that if women and men are equally representatives in the\nemployment, then the GDP is likely to increase by 27%, which is a remarkable\ngrowth (Christine Lagarde)[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gender\ndiscrimination on account of the labour market \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis often argued that development acts as an antidote to gender inequality, but\nevidence suggests otherwise (Duflo 2012). [3]<\/a>Gender\nsegmentation of the labour market has severe consequences on the quality of\nwork and abysmally low workforce participation of women. One of the critical\noutcomes of gender segmented market is the unpaid care economy, which obligates\nwomen to work at home, rather than utilising their skills at the workplace. It\nentails the below stated consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis more often than not stated that an organisation performs relatively better\nif it has women leaders, the credit of which can be attributed to their\nentrenched higher emotional intelligence quotient. Therefore, organisations\nhaving lower female participation are likely to fall short of their potential\ngrowth. It is not a surprising fact that India\u2019s non-inclusive growth will\nhamper India\u2019s global position on the gender development index[4]<\/a>.\nThere lies a problem of segmenting the work into paid and unpaid for women,\nthus, hampering females\u2019 productivity in the paid work. Moreover, the issue of\ntime poverty places a significant burden on females to be able to perform to\ntheir best potential. Therefore, it seems necessary to introduce policies that\ncan enhance the freedom of women, rather than constrain the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India\nhas long been trying to widen opportunities for females through \u2018Sarva Shiksha\nAbhiyaan\u2019, \u2018Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao\u2019 policies, but the poor implementations of\nthe same do not seem to work well with the developmental agendas of the nation.\nA formation of a separate committee needs to be formed, which can exclusively\nlook into the matter concern, and look into the \u2018why\u2019s\u2019 and \u2018how\u2019s\u2019 of the\npolicies. It is essential because men continue to spend more time in gainful\nemployment opportunities, whereas females still have a long way to go. A\nseparate quota of at least 50% of female employees should be created in all the\norganisations, whether private or public, thus, ensuring the increased\nparticipation of females. Moreover, Zomato\u2019s new gender-neutral policy of parental\nleave of 26 weeks is undeniably an indispensable move in the direction of\ngender equality, which if adopted by other organisations, can prove to have\neverlasting positive impacts. Gender budgeting has to been adopted by almost\nall the states, but a need for legally institutionalising the same remains an\ninfluential agenda and can have proved to be crucial in achieving gender\nparity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Concluding\nremarks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore,\nwhat remains a challenge for India is a well-defined policy space, which talks\nnot only about how those policies can be a substantial addition to the existing\npool of policies for improving say, female labour force participation but also\nhow such policies are a driving force for solving the ancient problems such as\nlong-persistent gender inequality. A policy tool which raises questions about\nwage inequality for females is highly required, as this remains to be one of\nthe crucial problems that discourage females from working in the formal sector.\nAll in all, a holistic view is needed to be in place to talk about effective\nimplementation of public policies, as women can be the backbone of any nation\u2019s\neconomy which has about half of its population as females. <\/p>\n\n\n\n References\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/pti-stories\/female-labour-force-participation-in-india-falls-to-26-pc-in-2018-from-36-7-pc-in-2005-report-119030800270_1.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/economy\/policy\/gender-parity-can-boost-indias-gdp-by-27-wef-co-chairs\/articleshow\/62589586.cms<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> http:\/\/hdr.undp.org\/en\/countries\/profiles\/IND<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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