Care Arrangements and Bargains

This article explores state and social understandings of care work in India by examining two categories of non-family care workers – hired domestic workers and Anganwadi Workers/Helpers under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. Classified as “volunteers” in a government programme, the Anganwadi Workers/Helpers enjoy some social standing and relatively extensive unionization compared with domestic workers. Also, domestic workers have to make much harder trade-offs between their family's livelihood and daily care needs. The economic undervaluation of the care work they perform, however, is common to both categories of workers.