Paying for unpaid family work

[ad_1] Soutik Biswas India correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0bf9/live/985a3d70-ccf5-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Hindustan Times via Getty Images Women who were beneficiaries of mukhyamantri ladaki bahin yojana showing their bank passbooks and the message of the scheme money received in thier mobile phones at Kisan Nagar on September 10, 2024 in Thane, India. The beneficiaries have recieved Rs three thousand in 2 months. (Photo by Praful Gangurde/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Hindustan Occasions through Getty Photos Ladies in Maharashtra aged 21-65 obtain a month-to-month money switch of 1,500 rupees ($16)

In a village within the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a lady receives a small however regular sum every month - not wages, for she has no formal job, however an unconditional money switch from the federal government.

Premila Bhalavi says the cash covers medicines, greens and her son's college charges. The sum, 1,500 rupees ($16: £12), could also be small, however its impact - predictable revenue, a way of management and a style of independence - is something however.

Her story is more and more frequent. Throughout India, 118 million grownup ladies in 12 states now obtain unconditional money transfers from their governments, making India the positioning of one of many world's largest and least-studied social-policy experiments.

Lengthy accustomed to subsidising grain, gas and rural jobs, India has stumbled into one thing extra radical: paying grownup ladies just because they maintain households working, bear the burden of unpaid care and type an voters too massive to disregard.

Eligibility filters fluctuate - age thresholds, revenue caps and exclusions for households with authorities staff, taxpayers or house owners of automobiles or massive plots of land.

"The unconditional money transfers sign a major enlargement of Indian states' welfare regimes in favour of girls," Prabha Kotiswaran, a professor of regulation and social justice at King's Faculty London, advised the BBC.

The transfers vary from 1,000-2,500 rupees ($12-$30) a month - meagre sums, price roughly 5-12% of family revenue, however common. With 300 million ladies now holding financial institution accounts, transfers have turn out to be administratively easy.

Ladies usually spend the cash on family and household wants - kids's training, groceries, cooking gasoline, medical and emergency bills, retiring small money owed and occasional private gadgets like gold or small comforts.

What units India aside from Mexico, Brazil or Indonesia - international locations with massive conditional cash-transfer schemes - is the absence of situations: the cash arrives whether or not or not a baby attends college or a family falls under the poverty line.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/575e/live/345175a0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP Women voters stand in queues to cast their ballots at a polling station during the first phase of voting for assembly elections on November 6, 2025, at the Raghopur constituency in the Vaishali district of the Indian state of Bihar." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP Bihar transferred 10,000 rupees to ladies's financial institution accounts forward of polls

Goa was the primary state to launch an unconditional money switch scheme to ladies in 2013. The phenomenon picked up simply earlier than the pandemic in 2020, when north-eastern Assam rolled out a scheme for susceptible ladies. Since then these transfers have was a political juggernaut.

The latest wave of unconditional money transfers targets grownup ladies, with some states acknowledging their unpaid home and care work. Tamil Nadu frames its funds as a "rights grant" whereas West Bengal's scheme equally recognises ladies's unpaid contributions.

In different states, the popularity is implicit: policymakers count on ladies to make use of the transfers for family and household welfare, say consultants.

This concentrate on ladies's financial function has additionally formed politics: in 2021, Tamil actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan promised "salaries for housewives". (His fledgling celebration misplaced.) By 2024, pledges of women-focused money transfers helped ship victories to political events in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

Within the latest elections in Bihar, the political energy of money transfers was on stark show. Within the weeks earlier than polling within the nation's poorest state, the federal government transferred 10,000 rupees ($112; £85) to 7.5 million feminine financial institution accounts beneath a livelihood-generation scheme. Ladies voted in bigger numbers than males, decisively shaping the end result.

Critics known as it blatant vote-buying, however the end result was clear: ladies helped the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP)-led coalition safe a landslide victory. Many consider this money infusion was a reminder of how monetary assist can be utilized as political leverage.

But Bihar is just one piece of a a lot bigger image. Throughout India, unconditional money transfers are reaching tens of hundreds of thousands of girls regularly.

Maharashtra alone guarantees advantages for 25 million ladies; Odisha's scheme reaches 71% of its feminine voters.

In some coverage circles, the schemes are derided as vote-buying freebies. In addition they put stress on state funds: 12 states are set to spend round $18bn on such payouts this fiscal yr. A report by think-tank PRS Legislative Analysis notes that half of those states face income deficits - this occurs when a state borrows to pay common bills with out creating belongings.

However many argue additionally they mirror a gradual recognition of one thing India's feminists have argued for many years: the financial worth of unpaid home and care work.

Ladies in India spent practically 5 hours a day on such work in 2024 - greater than 3 times the time spent by males, in line with the most recent Time Use Survey. This lopsided burden helps clarify India's stubbornly low feminine labour-force participation. The money transfers, at the very least, acknowledge the imbalance, consultants say.

Do they work?

Proof continues to be skinny however instructive. A 2025 examine in Maharashtra discovered that 30% of eligible ladies didn't register - typically due to documentation issues, typically out of a way of self-sufficiency. However amongst those that did, practically all managed their very own financial institution accounts.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3b25/live/3c1511c0-cf5c-11f0-902b-b378fe598ba1.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Swastik Pal Soma Das sells clothes using the money, supporting her seven-member household in West Bengal" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Swastik Pal Soma Das sells garments utilizing the cash, supporting her family in West Bengal

A 2023 survey in West Bengal discovered that 90% operated their accounts themselves and 86% determined how you can spend the cash. Most used it for meals, training and medical prices; hardly transformative, however the regularity provided safety and a way of company.

Extra detailed work by Prof Kotiswaran and colleagues exhibits blended outcomes.

In Assam, most ladies spent the cash on necessities; many appreciated the dignity it afforded, however few linked it to recognition of unpaid work, and most would nonetheless want paid jobs.

In Tamil Nadu, ladies getting the cash spoke of peace of thoughts, diminished marital battle and newfound confidence - a uncommon social dividend. In Karnataka, beneficiaries reported consuming higher, gaining extra say in family choices and wanting greater funds.

But solely a sliver understood the scheme as compensation for unpaid care work; messaging had not travelled. Even so, ladies mentioned the cash allowed them to query politicians and handle emergencies. Throughout research, nearly all of ladies had full management of the money.

"The proof exhibits that the money transfers are tremendously helpful for girls to fulfill their very own instant wants and people of their households. In addition they restore dignity to ladies who're in any other case financially depending on their husbands for each minor expense," Prof Kotiswaran says.

Importantly, not one of the surveys finds proof that the cash discourages ladies from in search of paid work or entrench gender roles - the 2 large feminist fears, in line with a report by Prof Kotiswaran together with Gale Andrew and Madhusree Jana.

Nor have they diminished ladies's unpaid workload, the researchers discover. They do, nonetheless, strengthen monetary autonomy and modestly strengthen bargaining energy. They're neither panacea nor poison: they're helpful however restricted instruments, working in a patriarchal society the place money alone can not undo structural inequities.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/052b/live/8992c560-cfab-11f0-932c-9d1f4bca4809.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Swastik Pal Women at a cash transfer camp in West Bengal" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Swastik Pal Ladies welcome the dignity the money transfers present

What subsequent?

The rising analysis gives clear hints.

Eligibility guidelines ought to be simplified, particularly for girls doing heavy unpaid care work. Transfers ought to stay unconditional and unbiased of marital standing.

However messaging ought to emphasise ladies's rights and the worth of unpaid work, and financial-literacy efforts should deepen, researchers say. And money transfers can not substitute for employment alternatives; many ladies say what they actually need is figure that pays and respect that endures.

"If the transfers are coupled with messaging on the popularity of girls's unpaid work, they might doubtlessly disrupt the gendered division of labour when paid employment alternatives turn out to be accessible," says Prof Kotiswaran.

India's quiet money transfers revolution continues to be in its early chapters. Nevertheless it already exhibits that small, common sums - paid on to ladies - can shift energy in refined, vital methods.

Whether or not this turns into a path to empowerment or merely a brand new type of political patronage will depend upon what India chooses to construct across the cash.