Gendered care in law: evaluating India’s new labour codes against the right to early childhood care and development

This article examines how India’s new labour codes overlook the responsibility of childcare shouldered by women, particularly the dynamics of gendered work and the triple burden. Through a textual analysis of the four labour codes using Social Reproduction Theory, this article traces the gendered continuum of labour law and its systematic non-recognition of unpaid care work. This article argues that this oversight is a reinforcement of the capitalist reliance on women’s unpaid labour. These reforms represent a missed opportunity to address the gender gaps in labour laws. They perpetuate a fundamental disconnect between law and social reality, institutionalizing the patriarchal assumption that care work is an unpaid, private burden on women. Drawing on the 259th Law Commission of India Report, which explicitly recognises early childhood care and development as a constitutional obligation, this article argues that flexible working conditions in labour law are indispensable to advancing women’s workforce participation.