New Delhi, Feb. 28 -- The latest Time Use Survey released by India's statistics ministry earlier this week demands attention. Not for a surprise finding, but for serving us a timely reminder of a glaring gender disparity.

While men and women in 2024 said they spent a similar amount of time on "self care", which includes eating, sleeping and personal hygiene, on average, women aged 15-59 reported devoting a fifth (about 305 minutes) of their day to unpaid domestic work, plus a tenth of it (140 minutes) to caregiving. In contrast, men spent much less time on those.

Although the burden of home duties borne by women has eased a bit since this survey's 2019 findings, the skew spotlights a major hurdle in increasing the participation of women...