The Supreme Court’s recent judgement in Shishupal @ Shish Ram vs Surjeet is likely to be remembered for a phrase rarely heard in Indian courtrooms: “the homemaker builds the nation”. In a country where millions of women spend their lives caring for families without pay or recognition, those words matter. So does the judgement.
The case arose from a motor accident compensation claim. But the court has done more than revise an award. It has recognised that the labour performed within the home is neither invisible nor incidental. By creating a separate head of compensation for “loss of domestic care” and fixing its minimum value at ₹30,000 a month, the court has sought to give legal recognition to work that has long been taken for granted.
The judgement is particularly significant because it confronts the way courts have historically treated homemakers. Notional income figures have often been unrealistically low, bearing little relation to the range of responsibilities women shoulder every day. A homemaker is not merely someone who cooks or cleans. She raises children, cares for the elderly, manages the household and, in countless ways, enables other family members to earn and pursue their ambitions. The court rightly notes that the loss suffered by a family cannot be reduced to a conventional claim for consortium.
It also addresses a contradiction that has persisted for decades. Homemakers have often been described as dependants of earning members even when the functioning of the household depends substantially on their labour. The judgement rightly rejects that view. Unpaid work remains work.
Yet an important question remains. The court repeatedly acknowledges that a homemaker’s contribution cannot truly be measured in money. If so, how was ₹30,000 arrived at? The judgement describes the figure as a basic minimum and a stand-in for a far greater contribution. That may be a practical solution for compensation cases. But it is still an approximation.
The larger challenge is to move beyond approximation. Valuing unpaid care work requires data, research and wider public debate. The court has taken an important first step and given tribunals much-needed guidance. But recognising the economic value of domestic labour cannot remain solely a judicial exercise. If homemakers truly help build the nation, public policy and the law must find more credible ways of recognising their contribution.