According to the latest survey, the share of urban women who do unpaid household work has increased.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
While an increasing number of urban women are entering paid employment, the share of them who do unpaid household work, such as cooking, shopping, and caring for children and the elderly, has also grown. This means that the deep gender divide in doing household chores largely remains unchanged in India.
Although more urban men are participating in domestic work now, with the share going up considerably in recent years, the gender divide persists as the share of such women is already very high and growing. Notably, these trends are consistent across most States, with the exception of some north-eastern States, where a relatively higher proportion of urban men participate in household chores.
Chart 1 shows the share of urban men and women (above six years of age) who did paid work in India in 2019 and 2024.
Among urban women the share increased from 15.5% to 18% — a 2.5% point rise — while among urban men it increased from 58.1% to 61.2%. Paid work includes self-employment, regular wage/salaried jobs, and casual labour.
Chart 2 shows the share of urban men and women (above six years of age) who provide unpaid services for their own use in India in 2019 and 2024.
Unpaid provision of services for own use includes household accounting and management, purchasing goods, preparing and/or serving meals, waste disposal and recycling, cleaning, decorating and maintaining one’s own dwelling and gardening.
The share of women doing such work increased from 79.3% to 81% in the period, with the share of men increased from 23% to 28.5%.
Chart 3 shows the share of urban men and women (above six years of age) who took care of children, the sick, the elderly, and differently abled persons in India in 2019 and 2024.
The share of urban women doing such work increased from 25.9% to 31.8% in this period, while the share of men increased from 12.9% to 17.3%.
Chart 4 shows the State-wise share of urban men (horizontal axis) and women (vertical axis) who did unpaid domestic services for household members in 2024. All the States show very little variation and tend to cluster closely together.
Across most States, the share of urban men who did household chores ranged from 20% to 40%, and the share of urban women ranged from 75% to 85%.
Some north-eastern States stand out. In Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, over 50% men participated in household chores. Among major States, Kerala leads with 44% men participating in household work.
Chart 5 shows the State-wise share of urban men (horizontal axis) and women (vertical axis) who did paid employment and related activities in 2024.
Here too, all the States are mostly grouped together. Across most of them, the share of urban men who went for work ranged between 55% and 65%, and the share of urban women ranged between 10% and 25%.
Among major States, Tamil Nadu stands out with 25% of women engaged in paid work compared to close to 9% in Bihar and 10% in Uttar Pradesh. The share of women who were engaged in employment was also high in Telangana (24%), Karnataka (22%), and Himachal Pradesh (23%).
The relatively higher share of women in paid work in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh — when considered alongside the fact that over 80% of women in these States also do household chores — shows that many women are juggling both work and domestic responsibilities.
Source: The data for the charts were sourced from the Time-Use Survey (2019 and 2024) released by MOSPI
Published – April 01, 2025 07:00 am IST