Latest news with #2024TimeUseSurvey
Scroll.in
12-07-2025
- Health
- Scroll.in
Indian women are shouldering a gruelling double shift
Indian women disproportionately bear the burden of unpaid domestic and care work, and this burden is especially acute for urban women, with domestic responsibilities clashing with 'corporate burnout', work-related stress and mental health concerns. This is exacerbated by the inequality in employment trends and due to limited access to essential infrastructure such as healthcare and childcare, data show and experts say. India's 2024 Time Use Survey showed that on average, an Indian woman or girl, six years and above, spent 426 minutes each day on unpaid care and domestic work for household members, nearly the same amount of time as in 2019. They also spent 341 minutes a day on employment-related activities (343 minutes in 2019). But urban women spend more time on employment-related activities (391 minutes a day) while spending almost the same time on domestic and care work (427 minutes a day). This implies a higher double burden – defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Gender Studies as the workload of people who do both paid work and unpaid domestic work – on urban women than on rural women. In January 2024, IndiaSpend reported that married working women in India spend significantly less time in self-care, leisure, socialising and religious activities than married working men. Need to compensate A study by the Centre for Economic and Data Analysis at Ashoka University shows that the increase in labour force participation between 2017-'18 (51.5%) and 2023-'24 (60.5%) was primarily driven by the doubling of female labour force participation in rural areas from 23.5% to 42.8%. But this increase has come from self-employment and casual work, says Puja Guha, an Associate Professor at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. Of the proportion of women employed, regular wage employment made up 16% in 2024, down from 21% in 2017-'18. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey data for 2024, women working in their own-account (working in their own businesses) or home-based enterprises made up 73.5% of women's work in rural areas in 2024, compared to 42.3% in urban areas. In a study with her team, Guha observed that women in rural areas tend to be more engaged in self-employment and unpaid work when there is highly 'gender-insensitive' infrastructure based on the gender-sensitivity index. 'The gender-sensitivity index is based on data from four domains – the gender sensitivity of governance-related infrastructure, physical infrastructure, education-related infrastructure, and health-related infrastructure,' the study states. They found that self-employment and unpaid work were positively correlated with gender-unfriendly infrastructure, such as proximity to infrastructure for banking, electricity etc, and to education and healthcare infrastructure. This is because salaried work mostly requires women to step out of the house, difficult if the infrastructure for it is inadequate. The benefit of self employment is that it provides 'temporal flexibility in terms of when one can work and spatial flexibility in terms of where one can work', said Rosa Abraham, another Assistant Professor at Azim Premji University. In a 2024 study with Vijayamba R, Assistant Professor, NLSIU, and Srinivas Raghavendra, Associate Professor, Azim Premji University, Abraham found that there was a 4.2 minute decrease in time spent on unpaid work, ie, domestic and care work within the household, with one hour of time spent in employment for a rural self-employed woman with 'fairly high' levels of education. In contrast, time spent in unpaid work increased by 6.6 minutes with an hour of salaried work for an urban graduate woman. Abraham said that this could be because urban women in salaried work feel the need to compensate for their absence from home. This could result in them compromising on other activities such as self-care. Besides, women with high levels of education may spend more time in childcare by teaching children at home and helping them with academics after school, she added. Double burden A review of studies, published in 2021, noted that several studies have linked unpaid care work to mental health issues. For instance, they wrote, a systematic review comparing health outcomes of unpaid caregivers and non-care givers from Africa, Asia, and South America found that unpaid caregivers had higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms than non-care givers. Similarly, a study from the US found that inequities in the division of housework and women's disproportionate share contributed substantially to sex differences in depression, the authors noted. A 2024 study by researchers based in the United States and Japan found that an additional hour of caregiving per day reduces the probability of Indian women reporting median level life satisfaction by 26 percentage points and good physical health by 15 percentage points, indicating the adverse impacts of a high double burden on women's health. Policy solutions Public provisioning of domestic and care work is essential to reduce the double burden on women, especially in urban areas, said Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics at Ashoka University. This, she said, must begin with recognition, reduction, and redistribution of invisible work that is undertaken within the household. In urban areas the quality of private healthcare and childcare is highly uneven and inaccessible and thus an improved anganwadi system (which provides nutrition and early education to young children) could help women. Guha added that public policies are largely intended to benefit only rural regions. As a result, she said, health and care infrastructure in urban areas is led by private players who offer better quality infrastructure but exclude a significant chunk of the population who cannot afford these services. Abraham suggested that it might help if public childcare institutions like creches function for longer hours, especially for urban women. Besides, she also mentioned that maternity benefits largely penalise women's work as they are a cost to enterprises. To make it easier for firms to bear the cost, she suggested the government should create a public fund, to which firms also contribute, that can be used to cover maternity benefits for employees.
Mint
09-07-2025
- General
- Mint
Work-life balance: How Indians relax, socialize and pray, in charts
In a rapidly changing world, free time is often a luxury. And while India debates work-life balance, a Mint analysis of the 2024 Time Use Survey—a national government study of over 450,000 people—reveals leisure and socializing are vital for Indians, making up about a fifth of their day. However, significant differences emerge across communities, gender, and age. Mint unpacks the data: Leisure gap As women carry a heavier workload, both paid and unpaid work, they naturally have less time for leisure activities and socializing. Women, on average, spend 274 minutes (about 4.57 hours) a day on activities such as mass media usage, communication, community participation, religious practice, culture, and sports practices. Men spend 293 minutes (about 4.88 hours). It is interesting to note that the overall Indian figure is heavily influenced by rural women; urban women enjoy slightly more leisure time than others. When it comes to paid and unpaid work combined (men do more paid work and women do more unpaid work), rural women work the most, 6.40 hours on average, followed by urban men, about 6.02 hours. This leaves rural women with about 4.40 hours for leisurely activities as opposed to 4.88 hours for rural men and 4.97 hours for urban women. The difference between urban men and women is not too stark, but nevertheless exists, with women enjoying slightly more free time than men. Urban TV dominance A deeper look at the data shows that watching TV, conversing and reflecting, and resting and relaxing are among the top three leisure activities of Indians across groups. However, despite being common, they are prioritized differently in rural and urban areas. Watching TV emerges strongly, with the longest time spent by urban women (101 minutes), followed by urban men (90 minutes). Watching TV is also more common among richer groups (102 minutes spent by the top 20%) as opposed to poorer groups (62 minutes by the bottom 20%). Conversely, urban Indians spend less time reflecting, resting and relaxing. Urban men particularly stand out as they spend the least time at 31 minutes compared to 43 minutes by urban women, 44 minutes by rural men and 50 minutes by rural women. Since women in rural areas work the hardest, they unwind more by conversing (talking or chatting) than watching TV. Overall, time spent conversing is more or less the same in rural and urban areas, but it is preferred over watching television in rural areas. Also Read: Marriage changes women's lives—men's, not so much. The data shows it. Bypassing books While Indians spend a significant amount of their time watching TV, the habit of reading for leisure is conspicuously missing from their day. On average, Indians spend only up to five minutes on this, which can be explained by the extremely low participation rate. Leisure reading sees about 0.8-1.5% participation rate among Indians aged six to 14 years. This participation rate rises with age, though it remains 1.0-9.9% for those aged 15-59 years. It is more common among the elderly (60 years and above), with urban men standing out with a 31.4% participation rate. In comparison, the participation rate among urban women is quite less at 8.2%. This gap in reading can be partly explained by the heavy burden of work that women carry (246 minutes) compared to men (222 minutes) in urban areas, even into old age. While leisure reading is rare, those who do participate in the activity spend roughly 40-70 minutes on it. Also Read: UPI fuels rural women's digital leap—but few own their phones Religious rein Prayers and other religious activities are an important part of India's fabric, but it is significantly more prominent among older urban women than any other cohort. In general, women spend more time than men on religious practices (which are dominated by private prayer, meditation and other spiritual activities). More particularly, urban women spend more time than men, as well as rural women. The activity becomes more prominent as Indians get older—a trend common in both rural and urban areas. About 50% of older women and 30% of older men participate in these activities. In rural areas, men aged 60 years and older spend 11 minutes more than those aged 15-59 years. Similarly, women spend 13 minutes more. In urban areas, older men spend 16 minutes more and older women 21 minutes more. Overall, older urban women spend the maximum time (41 minutes) as opposed to the 9-30 minutes spent by others. Formative conditioning The gender gap between men and women that takes form in various ways begins to take shape from the formative years. Among the Indians aged 6-14 years, boys enjoy more leisure time than girls. This again is a reflection of more work burden on women, from a younger age itself. Girls, on average, spend 27 minutes on paid and unpaid work as compared to boys, who spend only 11 minutes. As a result, when it comes to leisure and socializing, boys have the freedom to spend more time than girls. Though there is a visible gap between boys and girls, the divide actually exists in one activity group: playing games and other pastime activities. While boys spend 133 minutes, girls get to spend only 113 minutes. The difference is more in rural areas, with a gap of 21 minutes between boys and girls compared to 17 minutes in urban areas. When it comes to conversing, watching TV, and relaxing, girls are broadly on par with boys.
India Today
25-04-2025
- Lifestyle
- India Today
Time poverty: When time becomes the third wheel in love
If you are in a relationship, irrespective of whether you live with them or not, have you ever felt that you spend less time with or on each other?You know the feeling when you finally have a free hour, but instead of using it to connect with your partner, you're folding laundry, replying to work texts, or just zoning out?advertisementThat's time poverty. And no, it's not just being busy. It's when your day is so crammed with things you have to do, there's barely any time left for the people and moments that actually matter. The post-pandemic world has been really harsh, tbh. Too much hustle, too much catching up—it sometimes feels like 24 hours is just not enough. Do we feel stuck sometimes? Maybe. But are we trying to keep up? Yes. Time poverty is quietly reshaping the way we love, date, and stay exactly is time poverty?Time poverty is not about just having a packed calendar, it's about not having enough discretionary time. Time to rest. To breathe. To be with someone without multitasking in your head. And it's not just about the professional work that should be taken into consideration, it's also the other chores that take up most of the just in case you thought it's still in the mind, we have data to back it to India's 2024 Time Use Survey, the time gap in unpaid domestic work between men and women is massive. Women aged 15–59 spend over five hours a day on unpaid household chores. Men? Just under an hour and a half. That's over three extra hours of invisible work women carry daily, on top of jobs, childcare, and everything gets heavier when caregiving is involved. Whether it's for kids, elderly parents, or relatives with special needs, women typically shoulder the load here too, clocking significantly more hours than men. And that imbalance? It doesn't just eat into 'me time,' it gnaws away at 'us time.'Post-pandemic, priorities got a makeoverThe pandemic absolutely reset how we led our lives. People started noticing gaps: in communication, in emotional connection, in how much time was spent being with someone versus being present with this post-pandemic, hyper-scheduled world, couples are shifting gears. Many aren't chasing endless 'together time' any more. Instead, it's about choosing time deliberately, which means even if the time spent is little, it should be qualitative. If the time spent together is just 20 minutes, it should feel more fulfilling and meaningful than an entire weekend spent 'hanging out.'advertisementThat's how relationships are evolving due to time poverty.'Before the pandemic, schedules focused on fitting everything in. Now, couples make deliberate choices about how they spend time together,' says psychotherapist and founder-director of Gateway of Healing, Dr. Chandni debt is real (and emotional math is exhausting)One partner's busier schedule can quietly start a ledger system—'I made time, why didn't you?' Over time, this 'time debt' builds resentment. It's not always about who's busier; it's about who's prioritising whom. This is where intentional conversations around time equity become new dating hierarchyIn a world where time is the rarest commodity, even attraction patterns are changing. It's not just about looks or interests anymore—schedule compatibility has entered the chat.'Someone with flexible working hours or similar time availability may now seem more attractive than someone with opposing schedules,' notes Dr. Tugnait. It's changing how we evaluate long-term potential, because what good is chemistry if you can't find time to meet?How do you deal with it?With busy lives becoming the norm, efficiency is the new romance of running errands – Couples are also getting creative—turning grocery runs, laundry folding, or even gym sessions into bonding time. It's a practical form of romance that says: 'I want to be with you, even if we're just checking off lists.'advertisementScarcity = Value – Interestingly, the less time couples have, the more they seem to value each other. 'Thank you for making time' is becoming as intimate as 'I love you.' Little things like eye contact, shared silences, checking in, carry more emotional weight boundaries – As work and home lives bleed into one, successful couples are creating rituals that protect their space. 'Specific tech-free times and connection rituals are helping couples maintain relationship quality,' says Dr. scarcity countThis may seem like a bad dream - no time for the one person you love. However, change is the constant and we ought to live with has made people value what they do get. 'When minutes together become precious, people have a heightened appreciation for their partner's presence,' says Dr. Tugnait. We're seeing more gratitude, more verbal acknowledgment, more conscious effort to protect that shared the end of the day, love is adapting. It's not always candlelit dinners and weekend getaways—it's often quick check-ins, shared chores, and choosing presence over in the age of time poverty, love isn't about having all the time in the world, it's about making the time you do have Watch
