ABSTRACT
The majority of Indian women are involved in regular economic activity or productive work. This is in addition to their domestic work, which patriarchal ideology defines as women's responsibility, in India as elsewhere. Cross-culturally, the sexual division of labor is taken as natural and allocates to women those jobs that are poorly rewarded, onerous, and labor-intensive. Yet, without the work of women, family survival would be in jeopardy. Their contribution to the national and world economy is crucial.
