By Harshita Kumari

The Covid pandemic, now well behind us, briefly brought to public attention the indispensable yet invisible work of care. For a moment, the world acknowledged the labour that sustains households, communities, and capital. But as the crisis receded, so did the conversation. The pandemic’s visibility for care was fleeting; the burden, however, endures — borne disproportionately by women.

According to India’s Time Use Surveys (TUS) of 2019 and 2024, women continue to shoulder most unpaid domestic and caregiving responsibilities. In 2019, women spent an average of 299 minutes a day on domestic work, compared to 97 minutes for men. Five years later, little had changed — women’s time on domestic tasks declined only marginally to 289 minutes, while men’s fell to 88 minutes. I

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