Valuing Women’s Work: May Day for the Invisible Workers Unpaid Domestic Work Is Work!

The majority of women who work with Sisterhood are homemakers. Every day, they perform a wide range of tasks, including cooking, cleaning, caring for children, supporting older family members, and meeting the needs of other members of the household. Yet, they receive no wages for any of this work. Economically, this is known as unpaid care work.

The most troubling reality is that society fails to recognise the value of this labour. Husbands, children, mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, and other family members often regard homemakers as women who simply “stay at home doing nothing.” They tend to believe that the work these women perform throughout the day has no economic value and does not contribute to the family’s income.

This attitude is not merely a problem within individual households. It reflects a broader social and economic system that renders women’s labour invisible. Many forms of unpaid domestic work are excluded from measures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Consequently, women’s contribution to sustaining the economy is not adequately reflected in official economic statistics.

However, work does not cease to be labour simply because it is unpaid. Without women’s domestic labour, families could not maintain their daily lives, and paid workers would find it difficult to participate in employment. Therefore, this labour is essential not only to individual families but also to the economy as a whole.

To bring this reality into public debate, Sisterhood organised a May Day rally for homemakers in Galle on 1 May 2023, International Workers’ Day. We presented this initiative as Sri Lanka’s first May Day rally specifically centred on homemakers and their labour. Through street theatre and other creative activities, we sought to raise a strong public voice about the invisible work performed by homemakers and challenge the social attitudes that devalue their contribution.

Our objective was not to seek sympathy for homemakers. It was to ensure that their labour was recognised, its social and economic value acknowledged, and their rightful dignity upheld both within the family and in society.

Sisterhood believes that women's liberation cannot be limited to achieving equality in the workplace. The division of labour within the household, the unequal distribution of care responsibilities, and the social expectations imposed on women are also significant dimensions of women's oppression.

A homemaker is not a woman who does nothing. She is an unpaid worker. Recognising her labour, respecting her contribution, and ensuring a fair distribution of domestic responsibilities are essential steps towards building a just society.

As long as homemakers’ labour remains invisible, challenging the silence surrounding their contribution will remain an integral part of Sisterhood’s ongoing feminist struggle.