Regularise care work by registering workforce, stresses Vandana Yadav

Kolkata: State Industry, Commerce and Enterprises department’s Principal Secretary Vandana Yadav stressed on the need for regularising care work through registering this workforce so that a minimum wage can be ensured for them.

Yadav also advocated training of the caregivers for better remuneration while attending a round table conference — ‘Caring for Tomorrow: Addressing the Gender Gaps in Care Work Conference — organised by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Ladies Organisation (FLO) in association with Nikore Associates on the occasion of Women’s Day.

Yadav mentioned about the social security scheme Lakshmir Bhandar introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the objective of acknowledging the hard work of women who are homemakers. She mentioned that the E-Shram portal launched in August 2021 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment has already witnessed registration from 2.8 crore domestic workers. West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Chairperson, Sudeshna Roy stressed on the need for professional caregivers in elder care and child care homes and said that there is a huge market for them. “They need to be paid as I believe every woman is a working woman but only those who are paid are regarded as working women,” she added.

Interestingly, a state-wise analysis of the time spent on unpaid care shows that urban women perform 9.6 times as much unpaid work as men while rural women perform 8.2 times as much unpaid work as men. On an average, women spend 5-6 hours daily in unpaid care work while men do it for only 30 minutes.