Research Report: Women's Work, Gender Disparity, and Economic Impact

This report delves into the critical issue of women's unpaid domestic work, exploring its historical context, economic implications, and societal impact. It highlights the increasing prevalence of unpaid labor, particularly in the context of gender inequality and wage disparity. The report examines how unpaid domestic work, encompassing household tasks and daily management, is often undervalued and overlooked, contributing to economic and social inequalities. It emphasizes the need to recognize and address the challenges faced by women in both the colonial and post-colonial eras, including barriers to paid opportunities and the underestimation of their contributions to the GDP. The report analyzes the effects of unpaid domestic work on the economy, the issue of inequality, and the dynamics of the domestic labor force, including the impact on women’s productivity and the overall economic health of a country. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing gender inequality and the need for policies that empower women and ensure their equal participation in the workforce.

Women's Work around the world

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Introduction
This essay report is the part of first report in which research was carried on women
and unpaid domestic work. The thesis statement on which discussion is carried is gender and
wage disparity in the society. In the history it was seen that unpaid labor are increasing but
women in the colonial period were valued and were appreciated for their household work.
The aim of this essay is to find out the situation that was faced by the women in the post-
colonial era due to domestic workers.
Women and unpaid domestic work
Unpaid domestic work and women labor is considered as one of the major issue in
the society. The unpaid workforce is increasing as there is gender equality in the society;
women are not treated equally to men. The unpaid domestic labor refers to all the household
work and managing the daily tasks (Gardiner, Himmelweit & Mackintosh, 2017). This is
actually the real work done by women but still it is devalued by the men.
The reason for choosing women and unpaid domestic work as my research topic is to
deeply understand the issue and challenges faced by the women. It helps in knowing the
concerns and how devalued women are for their work (Glucksmann, 2016). The major
reason to work on this topic was to access the obstacles faced by women for paid
opportunity.
The aim of recognizing or considering this topic was that it offers economic benefits.
It was estimated that domestic unpaid work done by women is 13% to the total GDP. The
benefit of understanding this issue can help in improving the economic gain (Glucksmann,
2016). Once the concern is understood it helped the government to take proper action plans
by empowering the women and resolving the issue of unpaid and underpaid domestic or
agricultural work.
This topic is related to the course as it covers the concern of gender equality and
importance of giving equal opportunity (Lansky, Ghosh, Méda, Rani & Nussbaum, 2016). It
not only helped in resolving the issue of pay factor but also helped in offering equal
participation to women. It improved the overall quality of work by minimizing the pressure
over women (Javalgekar, 2017).
The three main things I learned by researching this topic was:

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 Effect of unpaid domestic work on the economy- It was found that the
unpaid domestic work is not included in the GDP of the county. This is the
reason domestic work is not treated as important (Roberts, 2018). Thus, it
was seen that there are arguments that domestic work should be considered in
an economic production.
 Inequality- It was observed that the issue of unpaid domestic labor arises
with the fact that there is a male dominating workforce and women are
treated as their single unit (Roberts, 2018). Women are never valued or
appreciated for their hard work and they are used as a labor.
 Domestic Labor Force- The labor force is used to describe the group of
working class in a particular region or a location. Domestic labor covers the
household work that is done by the women.
Unpaid labor is defined as a labor that does not receive money for performing their
task. Unpaid work decreases the productivity of the country and also decreases GDP. It is a
visible form of activity that is done on the household but women are not treated special
(Roberts, 2018).
Social inequality occurs when some resources are treated equally and there exists a
differences in the services offered to them (Skinner & Escriva, 2016). From this research, it
was found that women are not considered strong and they are just considered as a helping
hand for the family. Social inequality is linked with the economic equality (Lyonette &
Crompton, 2015). Gender inequality is an situation in which unequal treatment is done
between women and men.
Domestic labor force covers the household work that is performed by an individual
and mostly women. They cover the activities that are done in the house for which women
are not paid. Domestic service or the employment of people without any wage in their
employer's residence is called as unpaid labour (Skinner & Escriva, 2016). It also increases
the unemployment and underemployment ratio of the country that directly links with the
economy.
It is seen in the recent years that women are entering in the labor market but there are
various barriers faced by the women like vulnerability in employment, inequality in wages
received as compared to men (Edgell, Gottfried & Granter, 2015). The burden of unpaid

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work is seen high among women this is due to the inequality. In colonial period, it was seen
that women are given the task to manage the household work whereas men take care majorly
over the economy (Strauss, 2015). Thus, it can be said as unpaid service refers to the
contribution of labor to that part of economic activity that is outside the production boundary
like women defined for the System of National Accounts. Gender is one of the core reasons
behind unpaid work and it is seen that women spend most of time in unpaid events as
compared to men. Women devote most of the time in household activities. Unpaid is the
term that is used for an individual who is performing their activity.
Conclusion
Unpaid domestic work is the major issue of the society. This arises because women are not
treated equally to men. This helped in finding out the major issues that were faced by
women in the colonial period. The domestic labor is affecting the economy and occurs due
to the inequality at the workplace.

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References
Edgell, S., Gottfried, H., & Granter, E. (Eds.). (2015). The Sage Handbook of The sociology
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Gardiner, J., Himmelweit, S., & Mackintosh, M. (2017). Women's domestic labour. New
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Glucksmann, M. (2016). Completing and complementing: The work of consumers in the
division of labour. Sociology, 50(5), 878-895.
Javalgekar. A. (2017). Unpaid Domestic Labour And The Invisibilisation Of Women’s
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labour/.
Lansky, M., Ghosh, J., Méda, D., Rani, U., & Nussbaum, M. C. (2016). Women, gender and
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class young men’s transitions to adulthood. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(3), 274-
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Skinner, E., & Escriva, A. (2016). Domestic Work and Transnational Care Chains in Spain.
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