Deboshmita Brahma

University of Calcutta, India

Title: Invisible Hours: Unpaid Work and the Gendered Economy

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Biography

Deboshmita Brahma is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Calcutta, with a focus on gender, environment, and development. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Calcutta. Her academic journey includes research experience as a Research Assistant at Jawaharlal Nehru University and an internship at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, where she contributed to projects at the intersection of policy and development. Her work has appeared in national and international publications.

Ishita Mukhopadhyay is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Calcutta and formerly served as Director of the Women’s Studies Research Centre. She has held key leadership positions in the Indian Association for Women’s Studies (IAWS), including President and Treasurer. Her work spans across labour studies, gender and development, and mathematical economics.

Abstract

Unpaid work includes all productive activities that are not exchanged in the marketplace and therefore have no assigned monetary value. Because it lies outside formal economic transactions, unpaid work is often excluded from labour statistics, rendering those who perform it—primarily women—invisible and unproductive in official data.

Traditionally, women have shouldered the responsibility of managing households and caring for children and the elderly. This form of work, known as social reproductive labour, is essential to the functioning of the economy but remains unrecognised.

Using India’s Time Use Survey data from 2019 and 2024, we find that unpaid household and care work still dominates women’s daily lives. While the percentage of women reporting unpaid work as their sole activity has declined, the average time spent on unpaid work by non-working women has increased. This suggests a rising intensity of unpaid responsibilities, even as fewer women are classified under it, indicating that invisibility persists despite a greater burden.

Men’s participation in unpaid work has risen slightly, particularly among those in paid employment. However, the average time men spend on unpaid work remains significantly lower than that of women.

Women engaged in paid work continue to shoulder a “second shift”—their unpaid domestic duties. Consequently, the total time spent by working women on both paid and unpaid tasks has increased, pointing to deepening time poverty—less time for rest, education, or self-care.

Mainstream labour force surveys like the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) often fail to count unpaid domestic activities as work. Women engaged full-time in caregiving or household management are thus labelled as “not in the labour force,” reinforcing the misleading idea that they are not contributing to the economy.

Recognising and measuring unpaid work is essential to designing equitable policies. The Time Use Survey offers a powerful lens to correct this imbalance. We must begin to count all forms of work and ensure that no one is time-poor because of their gender.