Mahendra does not appreciate or recognize the significant amount of unpaid work that his wife Sunita does around the house to keep everything running smoothly. When asked to help by getting his own breakfast, he protests that it is women's work. His grandfather points out that while women's domestic work goes unpaid, it has great value. Later, when Rakesh takes time off because there is no one to do household tasks while his wife is away, Mahendra starts to understand how much work his wife handles. In further discussion, their colleague Aisha shares statistics showing that women spend much more time than men on unpaid domestic duties and care work, leaving them little personal time. Mahendra realizes he has been overlooking the

1. Importance of
Women’s work
Mahendra (to his wife):
Sunita, did you pack my lunch and
you haven’t given breakfast to
papa yet…
Sunita (from Kitchen):
Everything is ready, why don’t you
come and take it?
Mahendra (to his daughter):
Guddi, go and get it from kitchen.

2. Guddi:
Papa, I have exams why don’t you
tell Raju to do it..
Grandfather:
Mahendra, you go and get it from
kitchen…it will be of help to
Sunita.
Mahendra:
What? Now men will do women
work in this house?

3. Grandfather:
Women do a lot of work for which
they are not paid but that does
not mean that it does not have
any value. I guess we don’t really
recognise their work and effort
nor do we value their work.

4. Mahendra in his office
Mahendra (to his colleague):
Rakesh, why were you on leave
for last two days?
Rakesh:
My wife has gone to her parents’
house and there was no one at
home to cook or clean the house.

5. Mahendra:
So much trouble! I didn’t realise
how much Sunita manages.

6. Rakesh:
So true…I used to reach the office
without any worry. Cooked food,
washed clothes – everything is
ready; so much they do and one
says that their wife does only
household work.

7. Colleague joins the conversation
Aisha:
During my college days I read a
report of a survey conducted by
the government, which
mentioned that nine out of ten
women are always engaged in
some kind of work…

8. Aisha:
…and as compared to men,
women in rural as well as in urban
areas spend more time doing
unpaid work and care work and
they hardly have any time for
themselves.
Mahendra:
I never realised this angle to
women’s work, this thought is
worth considering.