Opinion: Who is fetching the water in India? In households without reliable water access, women are usually responsible for collecting, storing, rationing, and managing water for cooking, cleaning, and caregiving. Reliable water infrastructure can reduce unpaid labour, improve women’s workforce participation, and expand opportunities for education and paid employment. India cannot seriously discuss women’s empowerment, labour-market inclusion, or demographic dividends while ignoring the unpaid care burden intensified by water scarcity. And until India counts women’s unpaid water labour, it will continue to underestimate both its water crisis and its care economy.