The Supreme Court’s recognition of homemakers as “nation builders” shines a light on a long-standing economic blind spot. In a recent ruling on compensation for the death of a homemaker in a motor accident, the court directed that unpaid domestic care work be valued at a minimum of Rs 30,000 per month, with a 10% increase every three years. The judgment rests on an undeniable reality: households, labour markets and economies are sustained by vast amounts of unpaid work, performed overwhelmingly by women. The Time Use Survey data show that Indian women spend more than seven hours a day on unpaid domestic and caregiving work, several times higher than men. Estimates cited by the court place the value of women’s unpaid care work at 15-17% of India’s GDP. Yet this labour remains absent from conventional economic accounting and is largely invisible in public policy. By assigning a monetary value to domestic care, the court has challenged the fiction that economic productivity begins only when a wage is paid. This reinforces the fact that caregiving, child-rearing, household management and elder care generate human capital, sustain the paid workforce, and underpin broader economic activity.

But mere recognition is not enough. The economic logic for supporting homemakers is compelling. Direct income in the hands of women increases household consumption in ways that strengthen long-term welfare, particularly throu­gh greater spending on nutrition, healthcare and education. International evidence shows that women’s control over income improves children’s lives and can contribute to reductions in maternal and infant mortality by improving access to healthcare and household resources. The larger policy question concerns who should pay. Models vary. Venezuela, for instance, constitutionally recognises the economic value of housework and provides social security support. Cash stipends, including schemes introduced by some Indian states, represent a form of recognition but cannot substitute structural reform. Payments alone risk also reinforcing the assumption that domestic work is exclusively a woman’s responsibility. A serious response requires affordable childcare, universal social security, improved public services, labour market flexibility, safe workplaces and policies that redistribute care responsibilities within households. The court has provided recognition. Governments must now convert this into economic rights and social infrastructure that reduce, redistribute and reward care work while expanding women’s opportunities beyond it.