It Is Getting From Bad To Worse For Women Workers

Context: Disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women calls for an urgent policy response.

Widening gender gap: Takeaways from “State of Working India 2021: One Year of Covid-19”.

• Precarious situation before pandemic: Only 18% of working-age women were employed as compared to 75% of men.
• Disproportionate impact of lockdown: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data shows, 61% of male workers were unaffected during lockdown while only 19% of women experienced this kind of security.
• Gender barriers in returning to work: Even by the end of 2020, 47% of employed women who had lost jobs during the lockdown had not returned to work, whereas for men, it was only 7%.
• Women have fewer fallback options: 33% of formal salaried men moved into self-employment and 9% into daily wage work; in contrast, only 4% and 3% of formal salaried women moved into self-employment and daily wage work, respectively
• Withdrawal from the workforce: Nearly half of the women workers, irrespective of whether they were salaried, casual, or self-employed, withdrew from the workforce, as compared to only 11% of men.
• Low wages: Women were more likely to enter as daily wage workers (average salary ?7,965) while men found avenues for self-employment (average salary ?12,955/pm).
• Disproportionate work losses:
  • In the education sector, 20 out of 100 workers were women, while amongst those who lost work, 70 out of 100 were women.
  • In the health sector, 40 out of 100 workers were women, while of the 100 in this sector who lost work, 80 were women.
• Growing domestic work: For women, the number of hours spent in domestic work increased.
  • In February-March 2020, 10%-20% of women reported spending between two to four hours on domestic work; this share increased to 50% by September 2020.

Way forward

• Expand Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Introduce an urban employment guarantee program targeting women.
• Co-ordinated efforts by States: To facilitate the employment of women while also addressing immediate needs through setting up of community kitchens, prioritising opening of schools and Anganwadi centres, and engagement with self-help groups for the production of personal protective equipment kits.
• Introduce a COVID-19 hardship allowance: Of at least ?5,000 per month for six months for 2.5 million accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers, most of whom are women.
• Rework National Employment Policy: Systematically address constraints around participation of women in the workforce, both with respect to the availability of work and household responsibilities.
• Investment in social infrastructure: Imagine a bold universal basic services programme that expands public investments in health, education, child and elderly care to be prepared for future shocks.