“They say it is love. We say it is unwaged work.” Thus begins Silvia Federici’s foundational 1975 essay, “Wages Against Housework”. Federici’s Marxist-feminist argument was made in the context of Western industrial capitalism. Half a century later, and half a world away, the demand has shifted from wages to worth, from recognition to right.

The move from housewife (interchangeable for large periods of the 20th century, in thought if not in words, with house help/house elf) to homemaker has had a long, arduous journey. The marginal elevation has not altered much for the woman at the centre, still counted as the primary caregiver, still responsible, notionally at least, for the task of “housekeeping”, still with very little to show for herself in terms of actual economic heft.

Last week, while hearing the case of a woman killed in a road accident in 2001, the Supreme Court took a decisive step towards addressing this anomaly. It held that the loss of domestic care provided by a homemaker constitutes a distinct category of compensation in motor-accident claims. The Court also arrived at a minimum figure of Rs 30,000 per month, a floor to be revised upward by 10 per cent every three years. The bench observed that care-giving work — mostly by women — is estimated to contribute about 15 to 17 per........

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