The Bollywood film "Mrs," a remake of "The Great Indian Kitchen," sheds light on the persistent issue of women's responsibilities in domestic roles, backed by data indicating they spend significantly more time on unpaid work than men. Despite slight improvements shown in recent surveys, experts stress that many women are still burdened with a "double shift," doing both paid and unpaid work, as societal norms continue to enforce traditional gender roles.
Reflections of Reality: Bollywood's "Mrs" Highlights Gender Inequality in India's Domestic Sphere
Reflections of Reality: Bollywood's "Mrs" Highlights Gender Inequality in India's Domestic Sphere
A new film, "Mrs," ignites discussions on women's unpaid domestic labor, echoing stark statistical evidence of gender disparity in Indian households.
The new Bollywood film "Mrs" has brought to the forefront a pressing issue: the ongoing struggle of women against the confines of unpaid domestic responsibilities, even in well-educated households. The protagonist, married to a gynaecologist, finds herself ensnared in a repetitive cycle of cooking, cleaning, and caregiving duties, with her personal aspirations quashed not by overt oppression, but by subtle societal pressures and ongoing criticism.
This narrative resonates with hard facts presented in a recent government survey which indicates that Indian women dedicate upwards of seven hours daily to unpaid domestic and caregiving tasks, a figure that is double the time their male counterparts spend on similar activities. Specifically, the data reveals women are engaged in 289 minutes of domestic work and 137 minutes in caregiving, while men spend only 88 minutes on chores and an additional 75 minutes on care tasks. This statistic underscores a troubling trend: despite governmental initiatives aimed at empowering women, tangible change remains elusive.
India's Time Use Surveys (TUS) serve as a metric for assessing daily time allocation among individuals aged six to 59 throughout the nation. The latest TUS findings, published recently, delineate a slight shift: women aged 15 to 59 have reduced their unpaid domestic work by 10 minutes, while their engagement in paid employment has increased by a little over three percentage points. The government proposes that this change reflects a noteworthy transition from unpaid to paid responsibilities for women.
However, economists caution that the situation is not as rosy as it seems. The marginal decrease in time spent on household duties does not equate to a genuine alleviation of burdens; women continue to balance jobs while enduring a disproportionate heaviness of unpaid labor. Ashwini Deshpande, an economics professor at Ashoka University, underscores the importance of considering the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) in conjunction with TUS. The FLFPR has reportedly risen from approximately 23% in 2017-2018 to 37% in 2022-2023, suggesting that many women turn to work not solely out of choice, but as a means to cope with economic challenges.
Sociologists observe that this disparity is not limited to India; globally, women dedicate substantially more time than men to domestic labor—approximately 2.8 hours, but in India, this gap reaches close to four hours, a reflection of the country's entrenched patriarchal culture. This societal framework perpetuates strict gender roles, showing that even among the educated elite, women remain subconsciously bound to domestic expectations upheld by both genders.
The film "Mrs" resonated widely, igniting dialogue about everyday inequities, but it has also encountered substantial backlash, especially from men's rights groups accusing it of fueling negative perceptions of traditional family structures. Comedian Kajol Srinivasan noted that the film holds a mirror to society, revealing uncomfortable truths about power dynamics within households. Her personal anecdote about her father who took on domestic duties illustrates the realization that housework encompasses not just physical labor, but also reflects deeper issues of control and recognition.
As indicated by the TUS data, social change remains incremental, and significant time may elapse before women attain a fairer distribution of domestic responsibilities. In the interim, cinematic works like "Mrs" play a crucial role in stimulating discourse around vital, often overlooked questions—like who truly handles the domestic chores.
