Impact of COVID-19 on Women Domestic Workers in Union Territory of Puducherry, India

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the livelihood, security, and health of informal sector workers, particularly female domestic workers. Due to their lack of organization and institutional support, domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and human rights violations, and the epidemic has exacerbated the problem. Domestic workers' social and economic hardships across the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities and rights violations, especially in urban areas. Half of India's human resources are women, and their contributions are crucial to the country's development. Women's empowerment is seen as a means of boosting productivity and breaking the cycle of poverty. Women's domestic work includes tasks such as sweeping, cleaning utensils, washing clothes, cooking, childcare, and other tasks that are performed for a monetary reward. For illiterate women or those with limited education, domestic work is an important source of income. Official statistics put the number of people employed in India at 4.75 million (three million of whom are women), but this is widely believed to be an underestimation, with the true number ranging between 20 and 80 million. However, figures alone cannot convey the significance of their work or the difficulties they face. Domestic workers face difficult working conditions and are not covered by social security.

Furthermore, COVID-19 exacerbates the already difficult situation of women informal workers in comparison to men, compounding previously existing gender disparities. Women, for example, have less access to productive resources like credit and technology, as well as fewer networking opportunities and decision-making power than men (WIEGO 2020a). Women also have less access to productive resources like land and savings than men. This has a negative impact on their ability to respond to and mitigate the COVID-19 crisis' economic impact, exacerbating their already precarious financial situation. Many informal jobs are performed on the streets and in people's homes, especially in urban areas, and they have been jeopardized as a result of the lockdowns (OECD 2020a). Working hours have been reduced for many women in the informal sector, prices have risen, their ability to move goods and access markets has been hampered, and consumer demand has decreased (Alfers 2020, OECD 2020a, SEWA 2020a, UN Women 2020, WIEGO 2020a). According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 has exacerbated the plight of women and girls with disabilities who work in informal settings, resulting in “extreme and disproportionate economic repercussions from the pandemic, both in the immediate and long-term” (Meaney-Davis 2020).

Women's participation in the domestic work sector is common in India, indicating the feminization of domestic work. Low wages and a lack of legal protection, unpaid overtime and occupational health problems, poor bargaining power, working without leave under duress, childcare issues and health issues such as back pain and skin allergies, physical and sexual violence, exploitative working conditions and human rights violations, lack of a formal organizational framework for domestic workers, and exclusion of domestic workers from legal rights for minimum wages were all identified as issues. In India, caste, religion, and gender dimensions all play a role in determining the characteristics of domestic work as well as the nature of exploitation, which influences domestic workers' bargaining power. Domestic workers' social and economic distress across the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded existing inequities and rights violations, particularly in urban areas.