Don’t be shocked. Mothers across the world do this thankless job without complaining. Though Miss World Manushi Chhillar contends that mothers deserve the highest salary in the world, the reality is that the household tasks done by women are neither acknowledged as work, nor do they get paid for them.
According to a 2011 The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD) study, the average Indian woman spent nearly six hours a day doing unpaid work. Economists believe that though it is unpaid, the household work done by homemakers constitutes economic activity and should be included in the national income. By ignoring it, we underestimate women’s contribution to the economy.
How much Salary Should a Homemaker Get?
Five years ago, the then Women and Child Development minister Krishna Tirath had suggested that the invisible labour performed by homemakers should be quantified and that they should be paid the amount by their husbands.
Though the proposal was given a quiet burial in 2012, Manushi Chillar’s answer in the final round of the Miss World pageant has briefly brought it into the limelight. When she said mothers deserve the highest salary, Chhillar did not put a number to the economic value of a mother. ET estimates that a homemaker mother in an average middle class family in urban India deserves a salary of at least Rs 45,000 a month for the various tasks she performs at home.
A mother wears several hats during the day, but let’s start with daycare for kids. The average daycare charges in a metro are Rs 6,000 per child. Then comes personalised cooking for stubborn teenagers and fussy elders. Instead of 1-2 dishes in a day, the typical housewife is cooking 2-3 dishes per meal. Even with household helps around to do the laundry and sweeping, a homemaker has to supervise the process. She also has to oversee repairs and ensure everything is in working order.
Try hiring a housekeeper instead and you will have to pay at least Rs 3,000 a month. Besides these menial tasks, a housewife is also the family’s finance minister, burdened with managing the household budget. She keeps a record of all household purchases and ensures that no bill remains unpaid. She is also the driver who ferries kids to tuitions, parties and shopping malls and the errand girl who buys groceries and other stuff for the household. Once back, she is the tutor who helps them with homework and school projects.
While salary for homemakers appears positive, it may not give them meaningful independence. Under the current laws, any money gifted to a spouse is tax-free. But if this money is invested, the income gets clubbed with that of the giver under Section 60. Tax professionals say clubbing rules should also be tweaked to make the arrangement more attractive for both the giver and the recipient. “If the clubbing rules are not changed, the salary to a homemaker may just become a hypothetical benefit that no one wants to avail of,” says chartered accountant Minal Agarwal.