ABSTRACT
A clear division between paid and unpaid work and between women’s care work and economic-work may be possible in countries where fully developed markets have penetrated all sectors of the economy and society. In countries like India, however, it is diffi cult to make these separations. A large proportion of women constantly move back and forth between care work and “economic” work through the day or these activities are undertaken simultaneously. This is especially the case where women are engaged in “economic” activities for household consumption carried out in the home. These activities are not captured adequately by the labour force data systems. There have been micro-level attempts to document care work and to measure the unpaid work of women-both “economic” and “non-economic”. Notwithstanding the efforts of feminist social scientists and activists since the 1970s, it is only in the late 1990s that documentation at the national level was initiated. The Time Use Survey of 1998-1999, which was largely the outcome of these efforts, provided the fi rst opportunity to estimate the time spent on and value of care work and unpaid labour of women in general. Although this was a pilot survey, it continues to be the only time use data for the country.
