More than half of Indian women remain outside the paid economy, their labour uncompensated
Across India, more than half of all women remain outside the paid economy — not for want of ability, but because the work of sustaining human life falls almost entirely on their shoulders. A new ILO report places this reality within a global pattern: 708 million women worldwide are excluded from economic participation by unpaid care responsibilities, while comparable men number just 40 million. The disparity is not natural law but the accumulated weight of policy neglect and social expectation — and, as nations that have invested in care infrastructure demonstrate, it is a condition that can be changed.
- India's 53% female workforce exclusion rate due to care duties dwarfs men's 1.1%, placing the country among the worst offenders globally alongside Iran, Egypt, Jordan, and Mali.
- Women aged 15–59 spend over five hours daily on unpaid domestic work while men average one hour — a time gap that effectively forecloses paid employment for tens of millions.
- The burden is not evenly shared even among women: those who are younger, less educated, or rural-based carry the heaviest load, with the least access to alternatives.
- Countries spending roughly 1% of GDP on early childhood care — Belarus, Sweden, Latvia — have cut female workforce exclusion below 10%, offering a proven policy blueprint.
- Without comparable investment in care infrastructure, India's pattern is projected to persist, leaving women economically dependent, their labour uncompensated and their potential unrealised.
In India, 53 percent of women do not participate in the paid workforce — not because of absent ambition, but because care work consumes their days. Children need feeding, elders need tending, households need running. These duties fall almost entirely on women; just 1.1 percent of Indian men are kept from work for the same reason.
A new ILO report, "The impact of care responsibilities on women's labour participation," puts hard numbers to this reality. Globally, 708 million women are outside the labour force due to unpaid care — more than double the 40 million men in the same position. India's figures are especially stark: a 2019 National Statistical Office survey found that 92 percent of women aged 15 to 59 spend more than five hours daily on unpaid domestic work, while men in the same group average roughly one hour. For caregiving specifically, 26 percent of women spend more than two hours daily on such tasks, against 12 percent of men.
The economic consequences are concrete. Over a third of Indian women work unpaid within household enterprises, generating value for families and communities while building no income or security of their own. The heaviest burden falls on those with the fewest options: women with lower education and those in rural areas face the steepest barriers to entering paid work.
The ILO points to a clear policy lever. Nations that invest around one percent of GDP in early childhood care and education — Belarus, Sweden, Latvia, Bulgaria — have kept female workforce exclusion below ten percent. India, grouped with countries across Northern Africa and the Arab states where more than half of women face the same barrier, has made no comparable commitment.
ILO's Sukti Dasgupta frames the problem as systemic: low education, scarce jobs, poor infrastructure, and rural isolation all compound the burden — but beneath these material factors lie societal expectations about who should care, who should be available, who should sacrifice. The report's central argument is that this exclusion is not inevitable. It is the result of choices not made — and can be undone by the choices that still could be.
In India, more than half of all women—53 percent—do not participate in the paid workforce. The reason is not lack of skill or ambition. It is care. They are home because someone needs to be fed, bathed, taught, nursed. A child needs minding. An elderly parent needs tending. The house needs running. These duties fall almost entirely on women. By contrast, just 1.1 percent of Indian men stay out of the workforce for the same reason.
This disparity is the subject of a new report from the International Labour Organization, released last week, titled "The impact of care responsibilities on women's labour participation." The numbers are stark. Globally, 708 million women are outside the labour force because of unpaid care work—more than double the 40 million men in the same position. In India, the pattern is even more pronounced. According to the ILO's analysis, care responsibilities represent the primary barrier keeping women from economic participation, while men cite other reasons: education, health, personal circumstance.
The texture of this exclusion emerges in time-use data. A 2019 survey by India's National Statistical Office found that 81 percent of women aged six and older spend more than five hours daily on unpaid domestic work. For women aged 15 to 59, the figure climbs to 92 percent. Men in the same age groups spend roughly one hour daily on such work. When it comes to caregiving specifically—feeding children, tending to the sick, caring for the elderly—26.2 percent of women spend more than two hours daily on these tasks. For men, the figure is 12.4 percent. Among women aged 15 to 29, the caregiving burden is heaviest: 38.4 percent spend more than two hours daily on unpaid care.
This unpaid labour has economic consequences. The most recent Periodic Labour Force Survey shows that 36.7 percent of women in India are engaged in unpaid work within household enterprises, compared to 19.4 percent of men. These women generate value—they sustain families, communities, economies—but they earn nothing and build no independent income or security. The burden falls heaviest on those with the fewest resources: women with lower education and those in rural areas face the steepest barriers to entering the paid workforce.
The ILO report identifies a policy solution: investment in early childhood care and education. Countries that have made this investment—Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Sweden—have managed to keep fewer than 10 percent of women outside the labour force due to care responsibilities. These nations spend roughly one percent of their GDP on early childhood care and education. India, by contrast, has not made comparable investments. The report groups India with Iran, Egypt, Jordan, and Mali as nations where more than half of women remain outside the workforce due to caregiving, all facing similar structural barriers.
Sukti Dasgupta, director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department at the ILO, framed the issue in terms of systemic constraint. Women shoulder a disproportionate share of care work not by choice but by circumstance: low education levels, limited job opportunities, inadequate infrastructure, rural isolation, and the absence of care systems that might free them to work. Beyond these material factors lies something harder to measure but no less real—societal expectations. The norms around who should care for children, who should manage the household, who should be available for family needs, all fall on women. These expectations deepen gender inequality and restrict women's participation in the economy.
The global picture reinforces how severe India's situation is. Regionally, Northern Africa has the highest rate of women outside the workforce due to care (63 percent), followed by the Arab states (59 percent). Asia and the Pacific region, where India sits, stands at 52 percent. Eastern Europe has the lowest rate globally at 11 percent. The variation within regions is also telling: in the Americas, 47 percent of women in Latin America and the Caribbean cite care as the main barrier to work, while in Northern America the figure is 19 percent. The difference reflects investment in care infrastructure and, implicitly, different cultural expectations about women's roles.
What the ILO report makes clear is that this is not inevitable. The exclusion of women from economic life because of care responsibilities is a policy choice—or rather, a failure to make a different choice. Countries that have invested in early childhood care systems have reduced the burden on individual women and opened pathways to economic participation. For India, the path forward is similarly clear: without substantial investment in care infrastructure, particularly in early childhood education, the pattern will persist. More than half of Indian women will continue to remain outside the paid economy, their labour uncompensated, their economic independence constrained, their potential unrealized.
Citas Notables
Women shoulder a disproportionate share of care responsibilities, preventing their participation in the labour force due to factors such as low education levels, limited job opportunities, poor infrastructure, rural residence, and inadequate care and support systems.— Sukti Dasgupta, Director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department, ILO
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does care work fall so heavily on women in India when men are equally capable of doing it?
It's not about capability. The survey data shows men spend about an hour daily on unpaid domestic work, so they're capable. The difference is expectation—cultural norms about whose responsibility it is. When a child needs care or an elderly parent needs tending, society assumes the woman will do it. That assumption becomes structural. It shapes education choices, job opportunities, everything downstream.
But 53 percent is an enormous number. That's more than half the female population. How does an economy function when that much potential labour is locked out?
It functions, but inefficiently and unequally. Those women are working—they're just not paid for it. They're generating value in the home, but they have no income, no savings, no economic independence. The economy loses their potential contribution to the paid workforce, and women lose the security that comes with earning.
The report mentions that countries like Sweden have solved this with investment in early childhood care. What does that actually mean?
It means public or subsidized childcare systems. When a child can go to quality care during the day, the mother is free to work. Sweden spends about one percent of GDP on early childhood care and education. That investment pays for itself through increased tax revenue from women working, but it also redistributes care work from individual women to a system. It's a choice to say: this is society's responsibility, not just the family's.
India hasn't made that choice?
Not at scale. The report is essentially saying that without that investment, the pattern will continue. Women will keep being the default caregivers, and the economy will keep losing their labour force participation.
What about the women themselves? What does this mean for their lives?
It means economic dependence. If you're not earning, you're relying on someone else's income. It means limited autonomy, limited choices, limited security. The burden is heaviest on women with lower education and in rural areas—those with the fewest other options. It's not just about missing out on a job. It's about power and independence.