Impact of the Lockdown on Women Domestic Workers
| Author | Sherin Jacob,Vinita Yadav |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00195561211044530 |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Impact of the
Lockdown on Women
Domestic Workers
Vinita Yadav1 and Sherin Jacob2,3
Abstract
Covid-19 pandemic impacted both life and livelihood. The lockdown severely
affected economically weaker section workers who mostly belong to informal
sector. Among informal sector workers, three million are women domestic
workers whom pandemic forced to stay at home. Despite government’s request,
employers’ resistance to release the salary impacted their socio-economic
wellbeing. The announcement of stimulus packages provided limited relief. The
study analyses the difficulties experienced by women domestic workers. The
workers residing in large cities were the hardest hit, as many international and
national organisations were closed. Using secondary data, turmoil of women
domestic workers is presented. The analysis revealed the impact of lockdown and
highlighted that there is a gap in implementation of law and relief measures. The
study recommends adopting innovative public–private partnerships to enhance
socio-economic development of women domestic workers.
Keywords
Covid-19, informal sector, lockdown, residents’ welfare association, women
domestic workers
Introduction
Across the world, governments imposed lockdowns various times to curb the
rising Covid-19-related infections and fatalities. The purpose of lockdown was to
impose strict social distancing to halt the virus spread. Such restraints imposed
forced closure of businesses and resulted into economic setback (The World Bank,
2020). The formal workforce had the backing of safety nets and economic reserves.
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
67(3) 300–313, 2021
© 2021 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561211044530
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1 Department of Regional Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India.
2 PhD Research Scholar, Department of Sociology and Social Work, CHRIST, Bangalore, India.
3 Department of Social Work, St. Claret College, Bangalore, India.
Corresponding author:
Vinita Yadav, Head of Department, Department of Regional Planning, School of Planning and
Architecture, New Delhi 110002, India.
E-mail: v.yadav@spa.ac.in
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