Millions of Women Workers in India Lose Jobs During Pandemic

As India battles the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 400,000 new cases and 4,000 fatalities every day, Sangeeta Jadhav gears up to resume her duty as a sanitation worker at a private hospital in Mumbai designated as a COVID-19 facility.

Jadhav, a widow and mother of two, has recently recovered from COVID. Her weakness persists, but she has to report for the night shift. She was granted unpaid leave when she became ill and was asked to return in two weeks.

“If I don’t resume my duty, they might dismiss me. Four other co-workers have also tested positive in the hospital. So our contractor can’t tolerate more leave,” says Jadhav, adding that a single parent of two children can’t afford to lose her job at this point in time, when Mumbai is under lockdown just like the rest of the Maharashtra state.

After doing odd jobs for months last year, Jadhav managed to secure her current work through an outsourcing firm. She earns 9,000 rupees a month (approximately $120), much less than the minimum wages for sweeping and cleaning, which is $226-$152 a month, depending on the city.

She is happy that she at least has a livelihood.

Millions of workers who were employed as domestic workers; hairdressers; and sanitation workers and waste pickers in malls, commercial establishments, small offices, and manufacturing units have lost their jobs once again since the second and massive wave of COVID-19 hit India in the first week of April, prompting affected states to announce closure of economic activities and public places.

Nearly 90% of India’s workforce is in the informal sector, involved in work that lacks respect, social security, decent wages and in some cases, even the right to be called a “worker.”

Women are disproportionately represented in such risky and low-paid jobs, where there is little possibility of a pay hike or additional benefits.

Unemployment

According to a Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report, the current unemployment rate in urban India is as high as 9.5% and in rural parts 7.2%. At the end of 2019, before the pandemic, it was 9% in urban and 6.8% in rural India.

It is tougher for women to get jobs now. Only essential services are being operated due to closure of all commercial establishments and shops except essentials such as food and health care, mostly through home deliveries, which is a male-only segment, although there is no written rule in this regard. Most workers who have managed to stay employed in the formal sector are working at a considerable pay cut.

Indian Economy Harder on Women

The Indian economy is harder on women than men in terms of pay and benefits, and the virus has widened the gender divide. In urban areas, the unemployment rate for women is 18.4%, compared to 6.6% for men. In rural areas, 11.5% of women are unemployed compared to 5.8% of men, according to the CMIE report for January-April 2021.

Employers are able to drive a hard bargain with women — especially single women, who are more vulnerable to harassment and abuse than married women, and are fearful of seeking legal recourse.

Women in the formal sector also face discrimination. A chemical firm executive, requesting anonymity, said, “Cheap labor employed in the manufacturing sector largely comprises migrants — single women, Dalits, and tribals — who are ready to work for low wages on unwritten contracts.”

Women on average are paid 34% less than similarly qualified male workers for performing the same tasks, Oxfam India’s 2019 report estimated. Over 92% of women workers don’t get the minimum wage, compared to 82% of male workers, the report said. An equal pay law has been in force since 1975, but it is rarely enforced.

“Women like us can’t afford to bargain with employers and can’t even approach the labor courts due to lack of resources, family support, and child care responsibilities,” says S Anjali, 50, a science graduate, who took up a job in a pharmaceutical company in Bhopal city of Central India when her husband passed away in 2012.

She was offered less than $100 a month, almost half of what a skilled worker is supposed to get, and she could not say no as she had to raise her two school-age kids. Her pay has now been raised to $150, which is still, she says, less than her male colleagues in the same post and with the same years of experience.

Getting justice in labor courts is a tedious and time-consuming process. Instead of supporting workers, the legal system indirectly supports the employers, says Labour leader Raghunath Kuchik, who is minister of state in Maharashtra.

It’s no surprise that India slipped four places to rank 112th globally in terms of women’s health, survival, and economic participation — the areas where the country is ranked in the bottom five, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global gender gap report 2020.

Always at Bottom of Pyramid

Life was not easy for single women even in pre-COVID times, but they have particularly been squeezed out of sustenance after the lockdown. The pandemic has worsened vulnerabilities of marginalized communities — women, Dalits (considered lower in India’s notorious caste system), and migrants. Scores of women fall into all three underprivileged categories. Singlehood makes them further vulnerable for exploitation.

Dr. Vibhuti Patel, retired professor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences & SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, said, “Restricted mobility, overall insecurity, inability to find an alternate livelihood support have impacted single women badly. Pandemic relief operations of the government and nongovernmental organizations have been cornered by local men, forcing women, especially the single women, to do odd jobs such as vegetable vending, domestic work, assembling work for micro-small-medium enterprises and industries, recycling. They are at the bottom of the pyramid and are facing hunger, ill health, and precarious existence.”

Female Workforce Participation Declined, Except Single Women

India’s female workforce participation has declined over the years; more than 19.6 million women fell off the labor map between 2001 and 2011, according to a World Bank report. Single women — divorced or never married, widowed, or abandoned — were exceptions. Their participation in the workforce went up from 39.1 million in 2001 to 50.7 million in 2011, according to a report by IndiaSpend, an organization that tracks data on Indian society.

Women who have better-paying jobs also suffer discrimination and harassment. “Management forces me to attend the office every day even though there is no work in lockdown. Other staff members remain absent, citing some or other excuse,” says Nutan, 40, an unmarried librarian who lives with her ailing mother in Lucknow.

Workers Sans Status

Ritu Dewan, former professor of economics at Mumbai University, points out India’s latest Labour Code, approved during the pandemic for “ease of doing business,” denies “worker status” to apprentices, domestic workers, and home-based workers, the overwhelming majority of whom are women. This means such workers will not be accorded minimum wages, weekly days off, and paid leaves, as formal sector employees are entitled to.

This is a global phenomenon. In April 2020, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “Women are disproportionately represented in poorly paid jobs without benefits, as domestic workers, casual laborers, street vendors, and in small-scale services like hairdressing. The International Labor Organization estimates that nearly 200 million jobs will be lost in the next three months alone — many of them in exactly these sectors.”