This episode, marking International Workers’ Day, honours the often-overlooked contributions of women’s labour through a conversation with Dr. Prabha Kotiswaran. It traces the complex and often turbulent journey of women’s work, from its historical invisibility to its partial and uneven recognition today. Through a feminist lens, the episode examines how law functions not merely as text on paper, but as a force that interacts with, and sometimes deepens, economic, social, and political inequalities, shaping the lived realities of women’s labour. The discussion centres on Dr. Prabha Kotiswaran’s project, Laws of Social Reproduction, grounded in the Global South context of India. It explores female reproductive labour in its many forms, from unpaid domestic work within households to labour performed outside marriage and for the market, including sex work, erotic dancing, surrogacy, egg donation, and paid domestic work. By locating these forms of labour along a market–marriage continuum, the project shows how law both renders much of this work invisible and regulates each sector differently through criminal, licensing, contract, family, and tort law, exposing deep inequalities in recognition, protection, and rights. The episode places special emphasis on care work, the often unrecognised backbone of the Indian economy. It examines everything from the unpaid domestic labour of homemakers to the essential contributions of Anganwadi and ASHA workers in education and healthcare, asking what it would truly mean to recognise and value this labour as foundational to development. At the same time, it looks to the past to understand how different forms of women’s labour have been controlled, marginalised, or erased through criminalisation, restrictive policies, and systemic neglect. In doing so, it shows how these forms of labour continue to exist under constant scrutiny and threat, raising urgent questions about recognition, rights, and dignity. For further readings, please visit Vidhi's website: https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/podcasts/legally-hers/female-gaze-law-labour-and-the-economy/ Host: Prathiksha Ullal Content Consultant: Gayathri N. Edited, mixed and mastered by : Ankit Thakur Intro and Outro Music: Artlist Thumbnail Art by : Kunal Agnihotri #LegallyHers #FeministCommons #WomenAndLaw #IndianConstitution #Podcast
