Every day, Saliha Begum of Halledwarkapur, Faizabad lights woods in a Chullah (an earthen hearth) to cook food for herself and her family. But very few people around her think that she 'works'. She was never paid for the work she does, rather she was always rewarded with the tensions and headache of maintaining the family.

Conventionally, work is defined as any activity undertaken in lieu of remuneration. The value of work is determined by the level of remuneration. Therefore, any work undertaken without remuneration is considered non-valuable and non-work. On the other hand,any work done outside, such as office, factory, fieldis considered more valuable then work done at home. The conclusion therefore is, men work outside, get remuneration so their work is valuable. Women work at home, get no remuneration, therefore their work is considered non-work having no or little value.

This is the reality of women's work across the world. Their contribution to the family and society is not valued as most of their work is considered as household work which as women and the role given to them by society they are obliged to perform. It remains unseen, invisible and unrecognised and in conventional terms, yielding no economic benefits.

Patriarchy’s cruellest turn is the expectation that women have a natural instinct for and derive pleasure from housework and domestic duties. No doubt, because women are raised to think of themselves as nurturing and natural care-givers, most women learn to feel this way.