Indian Courts and the Politics of Recognising Women’s Unpaid Care Work

In this episode, we speak to Prabha Kotiswaran about how Indian courts value women's unpaid domestic work.

Women spend more than three times as much time performing unpaid domestic work than men in India based on 2019 NSSO data. This means women get less time to pursue paid work, learn new skills, get rest, and more. This disproportionate division of labour remains unrecognised. Indian courts, however, have attempted to value women’s unpaid domestic work in cases where women have died or become disabled in motor accidents.

Dr Prabha Kotiswaran has analysed hundreds of such cases since the 1960s. She joins us on the podcast to discuss her findings. Dr Kotiswaran is a Professor of Law and Social Justice at King’s College London. She is currently working on a multi-year project titled “Laws of Social Reproduction” and is an advisory member of EPW’s Review of Women’s Studies. We recommend reading the following related articles as well: “What Does Work-From-Home Mean for Women?” “Estimating Unpaid Care Work: Methodological Issues in Time Use Surveys” and “'Wages for Housework' for Indian Society and Digitalising Economy”