Disparate housewives

Homemakers are not ‘non-workers’ but does creating value need to be always about fair remuneration? Alpana Chowdhury finds some answers

Some years ago, when a lady from the Census department came around to take details of my household, she refused to note down what my daughter and I did. “Only head of the family…” she declared, flatly. I do not know if this particular lady was ill-trained, or if that is what all her colleagues had been told to gather by way of information.

If the latter was the case, it means our employment figures are inaccurate. If I, an educated, working woman could not assert my credentials, then there was little chance of daily and casual women labourers getting recorded as earning members. And what of housewives who may not be earning money, but are contributing to the larger economic growth of the country by ensuring their salary-earning husbands and children are well looked after?

A Change.Org campaign has validly objected to housewives being clubbed together with other “non-workers like beggars, prostitutes and prisoners” in Census surveys. Started by Sulabha Shertate, the campaign is urging the government to recognise housewives and give them their due dignity by creating a separate special category for them, instead of tagging them as non-workers, in its Census Survey 2021. She reasons, that as housewives keep the wheels of economic activity running
smoothly, by giving birth to, and taking care of the labour force, they cannot be described as ‘non-workers’. Supporting her stand, Shertate quotes a 2010 Supreme Court judgement that hoped the 2021 Census would correct 36 crore women being classified as non-workers.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan goes further, by propagating the idea of paying a stipulated amount to housewives. The logistics of doing this have, however, not been spelt out. Is he expecting the government to do this or is he suggesting that it be made mandatory for husbands to pay their wives a remuneration? The latter step, unfortunately, could have an adverse fall-out, with brutish husbands becoming more brutish. Those blind to the drudgery of their wives may feel entitled to make her work even harder if he is made to pay for her efforts.

Shertate’s and Kamal Haasan’s campaigns are important in drawing attention to a much-neglected subject, but genuine respect for housewives will only come about when boys are reared differently.

The 10-year-old who hollers for a glass of water, instead of fetching it himself, will grow up taking his mother, sister, and wife for granted. But the boy who runs errands for his mother and washes his dishes after meals will understand the significance of domestic chores and never assume they are only for women. Legal remedies may well give recourse to helpless, exploited women, but only a
fundamental change of attitude towards gender roles can ensure that housewives are given their rightful place in homes, and in society at large. The responsibility of this, necessarily, lies on both men and women. Hopefully, girls and boys, and men and women, will be treated as equals, if mothers, often the first teachers, insist on bringing up their children in a gender-agnostic manner, supported by their husbands.

My late father was born in an era when feminism as a movement was unheard of, yet I grew up seeing him grate carrots and shelling peas for my mother to make gaajar ka halwa and kachoris. (Their joint efforts made these dishes particularly tasty.) And, on the first of every month, he would hand over a portion of his salary to her, to run the house as she pleased. Towards the end of their lives, when my mother was ridden with rheumatism, it was my father, an ex-Naval officer who had
fought in World War II, who cooked all the meals in a spotlessly-clean kitchen. A true officer and a gentleman!

I have known many such gentlemen…husbands of friends who stir up quick dinners while we women catch up with each other. The girl, who helps with my household chores, has her husband looking after home and hearth while she is at work, as his professional hours are different. At the same time, these husbands share their earnings with their wives.

One positive outcome of last year’s lockdown months was husbands witnessing for themselves the never-ending domestic work their stay-at-home wives carry out, year after year, with or without help, uncomplainingly. This made responsible men chip in with brooms, mops and ladles.

Unfortunately, there were also those who merely sat back and binge-watched TV, while their dutiful wives plied them with tea and pakoras. So, unless there is an intrinsic change of attitude towards those who keep the wheels of the household running smoothly, recognition and respect for their labour will take a long time coming.

In the meanwhile, the government can, and must, set the ball rolling by classifying housewives in special, legitimate category in its Census surveys. Then, hopefully, the next time the lady from the Census department will also note what the ‘tails’ of the household do.