Religion and Division of Labour within Households in India

The study explores the relationship between religion and the division of labour between men and women within households in India. It uses Time Use Survey data (2019) for empirical analysis. There is a considerable variation in the division of labour based on the religious identity of households. Further, we find that the religiosity of the household, captured as the total time spent in religious activity, influences the burden of unpaid work of females relative to males significantly. It also increases their non-work time relative to men. We conclude that households spending more time in religious activities have women bearing less burden of household work and more time for pursuing non-work activities, though paid work time is not affected significantly. We do find women from varying religious backgrounds facing differences in the burden of work relative to males. Christianity and Buddhism have more equality in the division of unpaid work between men and women members of the household, compared to other religions. We find as households become more religious, the burden of unpaid work on women members falls compared to men, while their non-work time falls. Therefore, these women are better off than less religious households. We find attachment to religious faith produces different results for persons from different religious backgrounds. While the total work burden remains unchanged, non-work time fell considerably for women from most religions. This shows that the religious identity of the household is an important factor influencing the work burden of women relative to men within households.