1.3.

WOMEN IN STEM

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 1.4. CARE ECONOMY
Why in news?
Union Minister for Women and Child Development emphasised the
significance of the care economy and its potential to create 300 million
additional jobs, with 80% of them being led by women.
About Care Economy
• Care economy “consists of activities and relations involved in
meeting the physical, psychological and emotional needs of
adults and children, old and young, frail and able-bodied.
• It encompasses a range of sectors such as education, health, and
social work domestic works among others.
Impact of care work on women
• Causes time poverty: Deteriorates quality of life due to issues like
sleep deprivation, social reclusiveness, etc.
• Generates considerable opportunity cost: Prevents women from
actively pursuing further education, employment opportunities
and raising their skill-level.
• Discrimination at workplace: Discrimination in hiring
and pay, women choose employment below their
skills levels and in sectors that are traditionally
associated with their gender roles.
• Reinforces gender-based discrimination: Increases
hierarchy in gender relations and gender inequalities
in the family, detrimental to women empowerment
• Other issues: Increased vulnerability to
environmental and economic changes such as
climate-related shocks, austerity policies reducing
social sector expenditure etc.
Way ahead to reduce the burden of care economy from
women
• Recognition: Measuring unpaid work and valuation
of Unpaid Work in monetary units.
• Reduction: Providing Universal access to care policies
and services by building robust social
infrastructure and through measures like Emotional Labour
family allowances and child benefits, investing • First coined in1983, emotional labor refers to
in technological changes, etc. regulating or managing emotional expressions with
others as part of one’s personal and professional role.
• Redistribution: Implementing gender-neutral
• For example, organising staff away days and cards
and publicly funded leave policies, promoting and gifts for colleagues, or calling in-laws to ask
flexible work schedule or teleworking, about their health among others.
bringing behavioral changes through • Emotional labor, like physical labour, is effortful and
education. fatiguing when done repeatedly.
• Identify care workers: Define care workers, • Its burden falls disproportionately on women due to
create an identification mechanism for them, gendered stereotypes that women are more
allocate them job card to ensure necessary empathetic or nurturing.
benefits reaches to them. E-Sharm portal could • It results in exacerbating inequality as it goes unpaid.
be leveraged in this whole process.
• Invest in care economy: If an additional 2% of the GDP was invested in the Indian health and care sector, 11
million additional jobs could be generated.
• Address issues associated with Emotional labour.

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 • Restrictive definition of ‘infertility’: Infertility is restricted
to failure to conceive. It does not cover other issues that a
women may face in delivering a child.
• Hampers the source of livelihood: Banning commercial
surrogacy denies a legitimate source of income of the
surrogate.
Way forward
• Taking care of Post-Partum depression: Government must
take into account postpartum depression and make
provisions for it, and that maternal benefits should be extended to both mothers.
• Rescinding the time-frame for IVF treatment: The government should remove the time limit for IVF
treatment before permitting surrogacy, considering the medical conditions and fears preventing some
women from childbirth.
• Overtime expanding the option of surrogacy to include commercial surrogacy: Expanding the surrogacy
market with proper safeguards overtime will help those deprived of the love of a child.

1.10. ABORTION LAW IN INDIA

Why in News?
The Supreme Court (SC) extended the right to safe and
legal abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy to all
women in the country, regardless of marital status.
Abortion Laws in India
• In India carrying out abortion is illegal under
Section 312 and 313 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),
unless it is performed in the manner prescribed
under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP)
Act, 1971.
o Abortion is the deliberate termination of a
pregnancy by surgical or other medical means.
• The Act was amended in 2021 to make the make the
MTP more accessible to women (refer infographics).

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 Significance of Supreme Court Judgment
• Constitutional rights: Judgment states that distinction among women on the grounds of marital status is
violation of the right to equality under Article 14 and Right to life under Article 21.
• Acknowledges marital rape: SC ruled that pregnancy of a married woman due to forcible sex by her
husband can be treated as “rape” under MTP Act.
o Women can go for an abortion without the requirement of anybody else’s consent.
• Expands the definition of ‘women’: Judgment clarifies ‘woman’ includes cis-gender women also people
for the purpose of safe abortion.
• Protects the privacy of minors: SC allowed minor females to abort their pregnancies from consensual sex
without disclosing their identity to the police under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
(POCSO).
Other Challenges in abortion in India
• Shortage of qualified doctors: As per National Health and Family Survey, 2015-16, only 53% of abortions are
performed by registered medical doctors in India.
• Religious Opposition: Several inscriptions and religious texts oppose the idea of abortion which hinders
development of social acceptance.
• Social stigma attached to unmarried women becoming pregnant, loss of privacy victims of rape etc.
• Ethical dilemma: The abortion debate asks whether it can be morally right to terminate a pregnancy
before normal childbirth.
Pro-Choice Movement (Focus on Mother) Pro-Life Movement (Focus on Child)
• Woman alone has the right over her body. • Foetus rights of personhood should be upheld.
• Birth defects (genetic abnormalities) which are lethal • Misuses of prenatal diagnosis for sex-determination.
or lead to lifelong suffering takes heavy toll on The birth defects may get treated in future
parents. • Against humanity and state has an obligation to
• State can’t overlook the age (minor) and mental protect all life including foetus.
health of women (mentally ill). o E.g. Texas anti-abortion law (banning abortion if
• No child should be brought unwanted (particularly medical professionals can detect cardiac
in rape cases) activity).

Way ahead
• Education and financial independence will make women more assertive in demanding their sexual and
reproductive health and rights.
• Eliminating social stigma through media, campaign by famous personalities, awareness programmes by
local leaders.
• Increasing financial allocations for health sectors to improve the accessibility of Sexual and Reproductive
Health (SRH) services to all.
• Dealing with the ethical issues:
o Make people realize value of human life to avoid any misuse.
o Engage religious leaders to make people sensitive about the rights of women.
o Medical professionals should help pregnant women make an informed decision about their
pregnancies.
o Privacy of women choosing for abortion should be respected
Conclusion
Abortion laws in India have become progressive over the years. In the same spirit, the current judgement has
not only affirmed the right to abortion for all women irrespective of marital status, but also attempted to
remove hurdles for women and girls to get access to safe and legal abortion.

1.11. WASH AND GENDER INEQUALITY

Why in news?
According to a recent report by the UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in
India, in a quarter of rural households’ women and girls devote more than 50 minutes per day to collecting
water.

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