COVID-19 crisis affected men and women in different ways, it turned out to be the major employment calamity for millions. But for women, it turned out crueller in terms of job losses.
According to an informal workers’ survey conducted between May-June by civil society organisation, ActionAid Association that covered 11,537 respondents covering 20 states, from the informal sector, of which 3,221 were women, accounting for 28 per cent of the total respondents. It was found that 85 per cent, among domestic workers, had lost their livelihoods after the lockdown.
Many of them reported that they were not getting any wages for their work, while others faced the problem of decline in their salary. Around 52% of women workers reported that they had not received any wages as compared to 46% of men, implying that women workers were at a greater risk of wage penalty after the lockdown.
Gender bias is a matter of concern as Majority of women did not receive wages compared to the equal number of men, some of them even received partial wages, the media reported.
No doubt that this pandemic has shaken economic structures of the country badly but if these issues of the country will stay unaddressed it will become worse. The repercussion of stumbling again could be as high as the cost of losing our country to the darkest undercurrents of human history.