Women do unpaid domestic work for over 7 hours while men socialise, relax: Govt survey reveals deep-rooted gender bias

The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation published the Time Use Survey (TUS) on February 25, measuring how Indians spent their time from January to December 2024. The survey explored the various activities that occupy Indians' time, ranging from self-care activities, including sleeping, eating, and personal hygiene, to leisure, socialising, and unpaid domestic work.

As per the data, Indians spend a vast majority of their time on self-care, with men accounting for 49.3% of the total time and women 49%. However, the subsequent breakdown of time after self-care reveals an eyebrow-raising, deep-seated societal issue. Although it is not a new phenomenon, it has existed forever, continuing for generations. The numbers cast a glaring light on how women continue to shoulder the vast majority of unpaid domestic and caregiving activities.

The concern becomes even more pronounced when considering that, for men, the second most time-consuming activity is leisure and socialising, whereas, for women, it is unpaid work.

Women do domestic work while men socialise

The parallel between how women and men spend their time is stark and disturbing. For men, the second most time-consuming activity is socialising and leisure, which accounts for 20.3% of their time, while for women, it is unpaid domestic work—including household chores and caregiving, which makes up 19.8% of their time. In contrast, men spend only 2.7% of their time on unpaid work.

In terms of daily minutes, a woman puts in 426 minutes (7 hours 6 minutes) for household and caregiving activities, while a man contributes only 163 minutes (2 hours 43 minutes).

The heavy lifting of unpaid domestic work is so internalised and deeply rooted in the average Indian household that it has become invisible and normalised. Ever-present, yet unseen and underappreciated, even limiting opportunities for women as they try to handle this disproportionate work.

We are so blind, that it takes a movie to awaken and come to our senses to really see what has been going on around us. It's depressing that it takes a reel to recognise the real.

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The imbalance reflects ingrained gender expectations, with women in the kitchen or taking care of ailing elderly family members and children, while men are seen reading the newspaper or socializing with friends.

In fact, it's an entire generational cycle, conditioning the kids to fall into the same family roles.

The gender gap in employment

This disparity is also prevalent in employment, as men's work time is 19.9%, while for women, this figure is a meagre 4.9%. Although the numbers for women in employment did see a bit of improvement from last year. 25% of females (15-59 years) participated in employment-related activities in 2024, compared to 21.8% in 2019. The average time in a day for employment activities for men is 473 minutes, while for women, it is 341 minutes, signalling there's still a long road ahead to achieving equality in the workforce.

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