The issue of " unpaid work by women " which has no " dollar value" or rupee value has been a topic of study for years. Such work, including taking care of the home , looking after children and elders has no immediate dollar/rupee value but is necessary to ensure that the " paid work " ( work for which there is remuneration, such as office or factory work ) is done properly.

Historically, it has been a informal contract between husbands and wives that husbands would do the paid work while wives would do the unpaid work, which is necessary to ensure that the paid work is done properly.

"Having accepted the notion of marriage as her meal ticket, a women's domestic labour clearly reflected its economic imperative. The wife's primary responsibility was to ensure her husband was able to work in order to earn the wages for her own, as well as his, survival."
-Mary Kinnear

Today , of course the situation has changed considerably . because of greater flexibility in gender roles. Both men and women do paid work as well as unpaid work. but even in developed countries, women do more unpaid work than men.

"Women and men in Canada have similar total workloads but men spend most of their time, 4.5 hours a day, in paid work and 2.7 hours in unpaid work. For women, the statistics are reversed with 2.8 hours in paid work and 4.4 hours in unpaid work. Women perform 2/3 of the 25 billion hours of unpaid work Canadians perform every year and on average women spend twice as much time (2/3) on unpaid work as on paid work (1/3). "

Though working women are more likely to face stress and as a result, be at a higher risk for stress-related disorders like hypertension, working women also benefit from a higher self-esteem and greater self efficacy and confidence, which can increase immunity to mental disorders and stress.

Its also necessary to understand that , historically , almost all socieities have attached greater prestige to paid work ( mostly men's work ) than unpaid work (mostly women's ). this is one reason why manhood has been considerd more " prestigious " than womanhood. Of course, such concepts are no longer valid in many modern families.

Finally, its necessary to understand that money is not always the best measurement of reward for work. " For many women, unpaid caregiving work gives them an opportunity to directly experience the results of their labour; the love of their family is more satisfying than money."