New Delhi, Sep 10 : Union minister for women and child development Krishna Tirath has convened a meeting of state ministers on Sept 17 and 18 to discuss a proposal to ensure that homemakers get due wages from their husbands in lieu of domestic work that they do.
Tirath has said that housewives are entitled to wages and her ministry is working on a proposal to make this possible.
"We have got a survey conducted on this theme and are planning to hold more consultations about this plan, which at present is in consultation stage...Whenever we ask housewives what they do , most of them say they do nothing. So we feel that a mechanism can be devised to quantify and calculate the value of work that they do for their families. It will give a more socially empowered identity to these women."
The minister said she got the idea from NGOs. She has also drawn inspiration from a UK-based networking site for housewives estimating, for the first time, the annual worth of an average British housewife's job. The site calculated what an average professional would earn for the work done by a housewife.
Tirath says:"The work that women do at home is also economic activity but it goes unaccounted for. if children are sent to a crreche, then money has to be spent. If somebody from outside does cooking or any other work, money has to be spent. And the quality of work of homemakers cannot even be compared with others."
And, that leaves out the 'zoroo ka ghulams'. What about husbands who stay at home and do housework, while their wives work in offices. A reverse money flow?
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