SENSEX
NIFTY
GOLD
USD/INR

Weather

image 20    C

Kerala News

News

Kerala / The New Indian Express

details

Housewives must be recognised as part of 'toiling class', suggests Study

KOCHI: A new doctoral study has made two sharp observations on Kerala: Housewives must be recognised as part of the toiling class, and receiving a LIFE Mission housewhile socially empoweringdoes not significantly deepen a womans personal transformation. The research, authored by Nisha Jose, wife of Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K. Mani, argues that the States welfare architecture, although strong in infrastructure and allocations, still struggles to translate material gains into psychological and behavioural empowerment for women. The thesis scrutinises Keralas progress and highlights a critical gap. While women who receive a house under the LDF governments flagship LIFE Mission experience noticeable improvements in social standing and family recognition, the research finds that this shift does not automatically produce inner autonomy, confidence, or expanded decision-making power. In Nishas words, ownership does not substantially contribute to personal transformation, a finding that challenges the widely held assumption that asset creation alone is a direct pathway to womens empowerment. As of November 2025, Kerala has completed 4.71 lakh houses and allotted more than 5.08 lakh under the LIFE Mission, making it one of the most ambitious state-led housing interventions in the country. 'Rimi' short film: Celebrating housewives The study acknowledges the scale and intent of this effort, but points out that its impact is uneven across social, financial, and personal domains. Women gain visibility within the household and community, and the security of a permanent home reduces long-term precarity. Yet the internal shifts associated with empowerment remain limited, suggesting that welfare schemes need to be paired with interventions that focus on behavioural change, financial literacy and sustained institutional engagement at the grassroots. The thesis becomes especially significant when it turns to the late K. M. Manis Theory of the Toiling Class, a framework that has long shaped Keralas economic thinking. Mani positioned marginal farmers, artisans, traders, teachers, and other self-employed workersthose dependent primarily on labour rather than capitalat the centre of a new socio-economic category. 45,026 females committed suicide in 2021, over half were housewives: NCRB Nisha expands this theory in a direction Mani did not anticipate, arguing that housewives, whose unpaid labour sustains households and supports children, elders, and persons with disabilities, also belong within this category. Their work is relentless, indispensable, and foundational to the functioning of the economy, even though it is neither waged nor formally recognised. By inserting housewives into the toiling class, the study reframes Keralas understanding of labour and broadens an influential economic theory to acknowledge a vast, invisible workforce that keeps the state running. This conceptual expansion was developed with the participation of researcher Nisha Anna John, who co-authored the theoretical sections of the study. Together, their work argues that the category of the toiling class cannot remain limited to income-generating labour alone, and must include those who labour without wages yet hold up the social structure. The research also enters the policy conversation at a timely moment. On November 10, 2025, the Kerala Finance Department announced a new monthly pension of Rs 1,000 for financially vulnerable women and transgender persons between 35 and 60 years, holding pink or yellow ration cards and earning below Rs 1 lakh annually. This acknowledgement of unpaid work echoes similar schemes launched in Karnataka and Haryana. The study notes that transfer payments to homemakers tend to re-enter the circular flow of income through household consumption, generating multiplier effects that stimulate economic demand while improving gender dignity. Submitted to Sri Balaji University, Pune, the thesis evaluates gender budgeting, welfare implementation, and institutional mechanisms between 2021 and 2025. It observes that Keralas gender budgeting allocations have risen from 5.5% in 200809 to over 20% in the most recent budgets, reflecting sustained political commitment. Yet awareness among panchayat and municipal officials remains inconsistent, and many implementers are unfamiliar with the analytical framework of gender budgeting. Institutions such as the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) help translate policy into practice, but the research argues for stronger bottom-up planning, decentralised accountability, and better communication across administrative levels. In bringing together an evaluation of welfare delivery, an examination of gender budgeting, and a reimagining of Manis toiling class theory, the study offers an important reminder. Keralas welfare state may have built the houses, but its next challenge is to nurture the deeper personal transformation that empowers women from within. And by recognising housewives as part of the toiling class, the research insists that the state must finally acknowledge the unseen labour that has long held its social fabric together.

25 Nov 2025 4:06 pm