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Madras High Court fixes notional salary of homemaker at Rs. 3500

How much should a homemaker be paid? Or can we even measure her worth?

A division bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice Prabha Sridevan and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, has declared: ‘The time has come to scientifically assess the value of the unpaid homemaker, both in accident claims and in division of matrimonial property’.

The case: Compensation was claimed for a couple killed in an accident. What was the woman worth? The judges said: “One cannot ignore... that the homemaker, by applying herself to the tasks at home, liberates her spouse to devote his energy, time and attention to… generate property for the family”. Fixing the notional income of the woman at Rs. 3,500, they awarded Rs. 7.6 lakh to her daughter. “Homemakers too should be considered earning members,” they said.

How do you put a number to what a homemaker does? The judges suggested (a) what she would have earned had she not remained at home, (b) if marriage is an equal economic partnership, the homemaker’s salary is half her husband’s, (c) how much it would cost to replace the homemaker with paid workers. The Motor Vehicles Act puts it at a third of what a spouse gets. Ha! Planning to submit a bill to the spouse? Even if it is a modest one, be careful to hand it over with an anti-shock pill.

There’s no formula to calculate the homemakers’ value / contribution. The Supreme Court in 2001 fixed Rs. 3,000 as the notional income of homemakers.


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