Beyond labour market entry: Gendered unpaid work and the double burden of women workers in India

Abstract

Rising female labour force participation in India does not guarantee a fairer division of household work. This paper uses unit level data from the 2024 Time Use Survey to examine unpaid domestic and caregiving work among 179,585 workers aged 15 to 59, of whom 44,394 are women. Women workers spend 257.6 minutes a day on unpaid work against 44.3 minutes for men, and 138.9 fewer minutes in employment. Their combined paid and unpaid burden is therefore 74.4 minutes longer. Survey weighted regressions with demographic, geographic, employment status and diary day controls give an adjusted gender gap of 210.0 minutes in unpaid work and 88.7 minutes in combined burden. The gap in unpaid work is 145.2 minutes larger among currently married workers. It is smaller among regular salaried and urban workers, and it varies widely across States. A threefold Oaxaca Blinder decomposition attributes only 3.1 percent of the raw gap to observed characteristics. The results hold when unpaid family helpers are excluded and when the sample is restricted by diary day type and age. These are associations, not causal effects. Labour market entry and an equal distribution of total work are distinct outcomes, so policy on women's employment must address care and household time as well as access to jobs.