it is considered the normal and expected behaviour from each one of its members. Although these norms and practices are not written down and there is no rule book for these, they are generally passed on from one generation to another and continue to be practised. Therefore, it is said that Gender is socially constructed . Any deviation from that normal and expected becomes unconventional, non-traditional and sometimes even defiant.
However, with time roles and behaviours are evolving, resulting in ‘continuity with change’. It can be seen that the age old assigned roles as bread winner for men and as home maker for women are in transition. However, in India, women have all along been engaged in production and in some societies even in marketing. In rural India, women are intensively and extensively involved in agriculture and animal husbandry.
In urban areas, women are involved in construction activities or are employed as domestic labour. All these are working women and have been contributing to the income of the family in one way or the other. In many families, women are the sole bread-earners. Despite their active participation in earning and contributing to the family resources, freedom to make decisions and vogue to independence are denied to women.
Women therefore continue to remain powerless. The need of the hour is to educate and empower women and give them their rightful voice and place in society. Women cannot be empowered until the work they do at home is valued and is considered equivalent to paid work. The work performed by women as homemakers has rarely been valued or even counted as an economic activity.
However, there is a saying ‘money saved is money earned’. The household chores and the domestic work that women do to support the family, in all stages of their life as mother, sister, daughter, wife and grandmother, demands energy throughout their lifetime. Such contributions help other members of the family to perform their roles and duties more efficiently. Therefore, domestic work done by women needs to be valued as an economic contribution and productive activity.
Women’s participation