In our culture, it is been taught to our daughters that learning house chores is much important than other activities , because once you get married you are suppose to do all the household work and take care of your family. It has been a kind of ritual which is being followed from many generations. As per 2011 census, nearly 159.85 million women mentioned household work as their main occupation.

And also mentioned in Time Use in India-2019 report by the National Statistical Office that , on an average, women spend nearly 299 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services for household members versus 97 minutes by men.

Housewives are the one who does not have a job outside the home and who spends her most of time cleaning , cooking, looking after her family, etc. They maintain the house and take care of all the needs of family members and gets nothing in return which has a monetary value. It is high time to change these phenomena. This is not a new concept where housewives get paid for their work. In 2007, Venezuela became the first country to pay stay-at-home housewives, recognizing their work.

There are many instances where people make works like cooking, cleaning etc, kinds of work which is done by housewives, as their profession for example a person gets paid for his services when he work in a capacity of chef, so what is the reason of not giving allowance to housewives who are doing the same work.

Why we need such law?
Once we'll have such kind of law, which will guarantee allowance to housewives, it will help all the housewives in many ways. Firstly, it will be a great security for all the single mothers who are working as housewives. Because it gets very tough for a housewife to survive when she loses her husband, who is the one responsible for all monetary needs, so once she'll get paid for the household work she does. She will easily take care of all her as well as her family's monetary needs.

Secondly, it will also do justice to all their hardwork, efforts and time they are putting in the work they are doing everyday without any break, which one gets when working outside such as weekend holidays etc,. In rural households, they often also assist in sowing, harvesting and transplanting activities in farms, apart from tending cattle. They will live with more dignity as their work will be recognized more as compared to now where their work is considered as their duty and nothing extra for which they need to be paid.

Thirdly, a housewife wouldn't be considered as a burden anymore. As we know some people still consider a housewife as a burden who is doing nothing and is just sitting and eating at home. Sometime a housewife just stays in an abusive relationship because she just knows household work, which she is not being paid for, and she doesn't want to be a burden on her parents or her siblings by getting divorce. And a lot of times, after divorce they lose the custody of her child because she doesn't have a income for taking proper care of her child. It will also help such housewives.

In January 2021, Supreme court had said that the value of a women's work at home was no less than that of her husband who was working at office. It signals to society at large that the law and courts of land believe in the value of the value of the labour, services and sacrifices of homemakers. It is an acceptance of the idea that these activities contribute in a very real way to the economic condition of the family, and the economy of the nation, regardless of the fact that it may have been traditionally excluded from economic analyses. And, it is a step towards the constitutional vision of social equality and ensuring dignity of life to all individuals the bench of Justice N V Ramana and Surya kant said.

Conclusion
India should have a law which mandates the pay for housewives, as done by Venezuela in 2007, to recognize the efforts and time they put in daily household work. It will help them in a lot of ways such as it will work as a security for single mothers who are housewives, will help them live with more dignity and not think themselves as a burden on anyone, it will also encourage them separating from abusive partner, if were not doing so because of the financial instability, they will live a more confident life same as done by a working women. Housewives selfless services should be rewarded to encourage them to do their work daily with a positive mindset and in a place where their efforts are values.