Indian English literature has persistently examined the relationship between women and work, revealing how economic participation is shaped by deeply entrenched gender hierarchies. This paper examines the concept of gendered economies as represented in Indian English literary texts, with a focus on women’s engagement with domestic labor, informal economies, professional employment, and creative enterprises. It argues that Indian English literature critiques conventional economic frameworks by foregrounding women’s unpaid and undervalued labor, thereby challenging dominant definitions of productivity and success. Through feminist economic theory and postcolonial feminist literary analysis, the study demonstrates how literary narratives expose the structural inequalities that restrict women’s access to economic autonomy while also highlighting women’s adaptive strategies of survival and resistance. Literature emerges as a crucial cultural space that redefines enterprise beyond wage labor and reimagines women’s work as central to social and economic life.
Shital Prakash Maind (Sun,) studied this question.