A home is made with unpaid work and this needs clarity as we are conditioned in a derogatory way to think about unpaid work. The work we do ourselves in our homes is called unpaid because when we do it ourselves it happens for free and it is supposed to be free only. A minuscule percent of people across the world can afford maids, otherwise everyone else starts to learn first to do unpaid/ free work at home only.

If you look at the illustration below it will become clear that a home and paid work are interrelated. Homemaker is someone who makes a home and we all are a part of a home as we all come from a family. One person ends up taking more responsibility and accountability when children are young as a lot of work and time needs to be given in terms of caregiving, supervision, decision making etc. Regardless of gender, this person becomes the primary homemaker and other family members become the secondary homemakers. Home is made with a family and homemakers stand for each one of us as we only play these roles of husband, wife, mother, father etc. It is like we are the producer and we are the consumers and we are the homemakers and we are the professionals. We only do unpaid work in our homes and we only make careers (job/business) and become professionals to do paid work.

In all the methods of GDP calculation, there has to be monetization, that is, there should be exchange of money for the work done, but if you observe carefully, all work first happens without money i.e. free in a home. Cooking was first done in a home and then it became business and so it is for cleaning and laundry.  This means as an individual (regardless of gender) we do not have the right to do our own work because it does not fall in the parameter of our policy as it is free. So, we need to look for someone else to do our own work and, in this way, we just keep adding cost to things.

The system we follow of GDP calculation makes our benchmark of work as paid work and against this unpaid work can never qualify. It is like we in our policies have declared that a home just does not exist. The worth of unpaid work just cannot be calculated as families and homes are made with love, caring, kindness, empathy etc. which are intangible emotions. This work just needs acceptance as it is, with each individual having the right to do their own work. Right now, there is no choice as the preferred work is paid and anyone who ends up doing unpaid work would be asked ‘what do you do at home all day?’ meaning why don’t you prove yourself by doing paid work.

It is said ‘Family is everything’ and yet in our policies we seem to have made them nothing. We might not be able to put numbers on emotions and unpaid work but accepting them into our lives as viable will create a more just, peaceful and happier families.

Editor’s Note: Mona Mehra is Founder of Vision Search in India, and Lead for the “Empowering Homes: Inclusion of Unpaid Work in GDP” session during the UN Commission on the Status of Women Forum in March, 2025.