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   An Indian housewife reads an election pamphlet distributed by Bharatiya
   Janata Party (BJP) supporters outside her house during a campaign rally
   in Mumbai on April 10, 2014 Image source, AFP
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   A newly formed political party in India, launched by a film star, has
   promised salaries to housewives if voted to power. A prominent MP
   welcomed the idea, saying it will "monetise the services of women
   homemakers, enhance their power and autonomy" and create a
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   while women spent three times more at 265 minutes.

   So should housewives be paid wages for doing largely thankless
   household chores?

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   courts have actually been awarding compensation for unpaid work done by
   homemakers. But only after their death.
   A Housewife Making Chapatti In an Open Kitchen in Village Delwara,
   Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Image source, Getty Images
   Image caption,
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   The Supreme Court has awarded lump sum amounts up to 9,000 rupees a
   month as a notional income for a deceased housewife aged between 34-59
   years with a lower amount for elderly women, aged between 62-72.
   Compensation decreased with age as courts believed she would be doing
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   partnership" so that the homemaker's salary would be half of the
   husband's salary.
   An Indian housewife at home in New Delhi cooks her favourite dish in
   her kitchen Image source, Getty Images
   Image caption,
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   Lawyers may be able to use these judgments to "trigger developments in
   constitutional law and family laws to recognise the unpaid work of
   housewives in normal times, rather than only at times of disruption",
   Prof Kotiswaran says. Paying wages to women doing unpaid work at home
   would also boost India's declining female labour participation rate.

   "I am not arguing only for salaries for housewives, but for a broader
   wages-for-housework movement. Organisations like UN Women are too
   focused on how unpaid work is an obstacle to paid work," Prof
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   Getty Images
   Image caption,
   In rural India, housewives fetch firewood for home

   There's also no mass mobilisation of housewives over the issue, she
   says. "Most elites think that salaries for housewives is unworkable at
   best and regressive at worst, but there is a case for a broader
   political argument about recognition of housework. I do think that
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   remunerated? Should transgender women be included in these payment
   schemes? What could be the unintended consequences of salaries for
   housewives?

   "We need a more sustained conversation on all of these aspects before
   mobilising for salaries for housewives," says Prof Kotiswaran.

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