India, June 21 -- Sorry, your lordships. Women who labour at home to wash, clean, cook, bring up children, take parents to the doctor, go to the market, and do the countless other tasks of physical and emotional labour that keep their families happy - are not "nation-builders".

Call them homemakers. Call them unpaid domestic workers. Call them the scaffolding on which Busy Important men build their Busy Important careers. But, it's time to strip away the notion that the business of running a home is some sublime task suitable only for one gender.

The Supreme Court was dealing with an old question of how to financially compensate for a life lost in an accident. Compensation for men can be computed on their income. But what is the value o...