India, March 8 -- The maiden Time Use Survey held in 1998-99 in six states of India was an epiphany as it made it bare a phenomenon which was otherwise omnipresent. It revealed that we were brazenly generous in tasking women to primarily run the kitchen and take care of care work, whereas men were frugal in both participating and spending time on these vital, life-sustaining tasks. Ironically, the 2024 all-India Time Use Survey offers a scenario not so different from that of 1998-99, or for that matter, the more recent 2019 survey.

Our analysis of the unit-level data of the Time Use Survey 2024, confined to the age group of 15-59 years, reveals that 92% and 41% of women participated in unpaid domestic maintenance and care work, respectiv...