Women’s unpaid labour is the economy’s largest invisible subsidy. Explain this observation. How can recognising unpaid care work reshape India’s growth metrics?
Kartavya Desk Staff
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it
Q6. Women’s unpaid labour is the economy’s largest invisible subsidy. Explain this observation. How can recognising unpaid care work reshape India’s growth metrics? (10 M)
Difficulty Level: Medium
Reference: NIE
Why the question: The economic invisibility of women’s unpaid work, its macroeconomic implications, and how integrating such labour into national accounts can reshape India’s growth indicators and policy orientation. Key Demand of the question: The question requires explaining how unpaid domestic and care work acts as a hidden subsidy sustaining the economy, and analysing how its recognition in GDP and policy frameworks can alter India’s perception of growth, productivity, and gender equity. Structure of the Answer: Introduction: Begin with the paradox of women’s vast unpaid contribution to the economy despite its exclusion from official GDP, citing credible data (e.g., Oxfam, PLFS 2025). Body: Explain how unpaid care and domestic work function as an invisible economic subsidy supporting the formal economy. Analyse how recognising and valuing such work through time-use surveys, gender-disaggregated data, and household production accounts can transform growth measurement and policy focus. Conclusion: Conclude by emphasizing that inclusion of unpaid labour in economic metrics is vital for building a gender-just, comprehensive model of growth and human development.
Why the question: The economic invisibility of women’s unpaid work, its macroeconomic implications, and how integrating such labour into national accounts can reshape India’s growth indicators and policy orientation.
Key Demand of the question: The question requires explaining how unpaid domestic and care work acts as a hidden subsidy sustaining the economy, and analysing how its recognition in GDP and policy frameworks can alter India’s perception of growth, productivity, and gender equity.
Structure of the Answer: Introduction:
Begin with the paradox of women’s vast unpaid contribution to the economy despite its exclusion from official GDP, citing credible data (e.g., Oxfam, PLFS 2025). Body:
• Explain how unpaid care and domestic work function as an invisible economic subsidy supporting the formal economy.
• Analyse how recognising and valuing such work through time-use surveys, gender-disaggregated data, and household production accounts can transform growth measurement and policy focus.
Conclusion:
Conclude by emphasizing that inclusion of unpaid labour in economic metrics is vital for building a gender-just, comprehensive model of growth and human development.