ayesha datta

An analysis of 2011 Census data confirms that Delhi has the lowest proportion of working women (25.5%) as compared to any major Indian city. It is often argued that in megacities, the demands on a woman’s time – for care work and allied activities like collecting rations – reduce their participation in the economic sphere to a large extent.

For most people, the definition of home-based work is hazy – particularly when quizzed about whether it is different from domestic work or unpaid care work. This is dangerous, because it means that an important section of informal workers are invisibilised, and their needs and issues not taken into account. A home-based worker is an employee or a self-employed worker who performs his or her job from home rather than a designated workspace or an employer’s site.