Falling Between the Cracks: Women’s Work and the Periodic Labour Force Survey

Abstract

This article reflects upon the changes introduced in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and their impact on the visibility of women’s work in India. In 2017–2018, the National Sample Survey Organisation’s five-yearly employment–unemployment surveys (EUS) were replaced by the annual PLFS, and in the transition, the section that comprised probing questions was dropped. These questions had been introduced in 1972–1973 to highlight women’s productive activities, which otherwise remain invisible. The section was key to collecting information on not only women’s reproductive work but also the unrecognised productive work women undertake within the walls of their homes. It provided a window in a society where women’s work is underestimated as well as unappreciated.