The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released its report titled ‘Women and Men in India 2022’ which is 24th in a series. As per it, an average Indian woman, aged between 15 and 29 spends 5.5 hours doing unpaid labour. A man in that age group spends about 50 minutes a day doing work that yields no money.
- A senior woman (aged above 60) too spends four hours a day doing unpaid labour, while a senior man spends an hour and a half on the same.
This report is on the lines of the Oxfam report from December 2021, which noted that the unpaid work done by women looking after their homes and children is worth 3.1% of India’s GDP.
Source of Data/Assessment:
The report has sourced the data from Time Use Survey.
In the current year’s publication, a new chapter (chapter 4) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and gender has been added.
- Chapter 1 provides an overview of the publication.
- Chapter 2 of the publication gives the details of the policies and programmes of the Government of India.
- Chapter 3 provides the data on population and related statistic
Highlights: Insights on how men and women spend their time
On average, men spend six minutes more than women on self-care and maintenance. The only area of unpaid work where men spend more time than women is in volunteering and training, where they spend an extra six minutes per day. Although both men and women dedicate approximately seven hours per day to learning, men spend an additional three minutes in this activity.
Table showing men spend way less time on unpaid activities:
| Activities | Male (Minutes) | Female (Minutes) |
|---|---|---|
| Unpaid domestic services for household members | 97 | 299 |
| Unpaid caregiving services for household members | 76 | 134 |
| Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work | 102 | 99 |
| Learning | 426 | 423 |
| Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice | 147 | 139 |
| Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices | 164 | 165 |
| Self-care and maintenance | 729 | 723 |
Inequality in wealth
i.Of the total number of individual savings accounts in Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCB), only 35% are owned by women. The cumulative amount of money deposited in these accounts, women own just 20%.
ii.On data state-wise, among bigger states, Andhra Pradesh (AP) is at the forefront. More than 41% of the total bank accounts were held by women.
- In Gujarat, it is much lower at 27.4%.
- Notably, average deposit amount in the accounts of men and women is not that different. While an average Indian man has Rs 43,798 in his savings account, an average woman has Rs 42,978.
Note: The SDG 5 ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls‘ exclusively focuses on gender. It aims to ensure ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere.
What are SDGs?
SDGs are the blueprint for achieving a better and sustainable future for all. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during its 70th Session, on 25th September 2015, with the aim of taking forward the success of Millennium Development Goals, adopted the document titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” consisting of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and associated 169 targets.
- Following this in 2018, MoSPI developed a National Indicator Framework (NIF) in 2018 consisting of 306 national indicators.
- NIF is the backbone for facilitating the monitoring of SDGs at the national level and provides appropriate direction to policymakers.
- At present, there are 286 indicators in the NIF, 2022.
About Women and Men in India Publication:
It is prepared with the objective of providing a variety of available gender statistics in one place to serve as a single platform for accessing gender statistics by users. It evaluates women’s status compared to men to identify challenges and impediments.
Recent Related News:
i.On 22nd February 2023, MoSPI, released the Revised Guidelines on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)-2023 which will come into effect from April 1, 2023.
ii.On February 24, 2023, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the 5th ‘Annual Report Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)- July, 2021 – June, 2022’ stating Unemployment rate (UR) at 5-year low of 4.1% in 2021-22. It was 4.2% in July 2020-June 2021.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Minister of State (Independent Charge)– Rao Inderjit Singh (Constituency- Gurugram, Haryana)
Secretary– DR. G P Samanta
