Gender and Public Policy in India: Invisibilizing Socially Reproductive Labour

Abstract

This paper looks at the manner in which women have been represented in the development agenda of the Indian state and the implications on the subjectivities and identities of women. The focus is on the centrality of unpaid labour of women in terms of their ‘caring’ role in the household, the main site where the quests for gender equality and justice are fought, won and/or lost in the first instance. The centrality of women's unpaid domestic labour to the production and reproduction of the household and ultimately the production and reproduction of the economy at the local, regional and national levels constitute a permanent element in the structuring of the economy of care. While both the state and market forces have created incentives for women to enter the public production process, one does not find similar efforts to encourage men to take over household and caring responsibilities. The paper empirically traces the manner in which women have been defined in the post-independence economic debates and policies. The attempt is to understand the extent to which policy interventions have incorporated the needs and experiences of women. What are the concepts and assumptions behind these policies? How do they view women ‘s role in family, society and economy of the country? To what extent and in what manner have the policies addressed the issue of the socially reproductive (unpaid and invisible) labour of women? Bringing our observations to the present, the paper analyses as to how women, especially poor women, have been configured/located in the articulations between a global economic discourse and state institutions and agencies.