Economic Contribution of Home Makers in the Family Income through their Unpaid Household Work

The financial value of the household work done by home makers in India always remained unnoticed and home makers continue to be treated as if they contribute nothing of value to society or the nation. Therefore, the present study was planned to find out the economic contribution of home makers in the family income through their unpaid household work by converting time into money. The design of the study was descriptive in nature. A self-structured questionnaire was constructed and the data were collected personally by the researcher. The study was conducted in Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar which are the two major districts of Kandi region of Punjab. Time spent by the rural women for performing different household activities like cooking, taking care of children, elderly and livestock etc. were converted into money. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents fall under the age category of 35-50 years, half of the respondents belonged to Schedule caste and more than one-third women respondents were illiterate. It was found that a large proportion of respondents were responsible for cooking food three times a day for their family members followed by cleaning their home and washing clothes of the entire family. Further, it was also noticed that a home maker spend maximum time on taking care of elder people and their children at home followed by fuel wood gathering and cooking for the family, whereas, minimum time was spent on activities like marketing of milk & milk products and cow dung making. The results also revealed that on an average a home maker saves approximately Rs. 14,286 per month by doing unpaid household work at her home by her own. Thus, it is concluded that the value of the people who ensure that the house is a home must be widely acknowledged.