How does paid and unpaid domestic work get quantified in Indian households?

LO’s Work in Freedom programme India in collaboration with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, conducted a study in 2020-2022 to learn the dynamics of paid and unpaid domestic work across different urban households in the cities of Bengaluru and Chennai in India.

In a webinar held on 19 January, the IIHS research team presented key findings of the study followed by a Q&A to discuss the lessons that can be drawn from the ILO-IIHS study towards relevant interventions at the grassroot level and for policymaking relevant to the sector and women in the informal and formal workforce in general.

Covering approximately 10,000 households in both cities using an innovative sampling approach and a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the focus of the study was on employers of domestic workers; as their perceptions and practices are essential to understanding the contours of the demand and working conditions of the sector and critical to engage with to prepare sustainable regulation and policy for domestic work. The findings of the ILO-IIHS two-year-long study are presented in three reports, each diving into a particular thematic.