By Pratham Shamnani and Foram Joshi
The novel coronavirus outbreak is more than a health emergency for India. When India placed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March 2020, more than 120 million people lost their jobs overnight. The majority of these employees were from the unorganized market, and half of them were female.
Women, especially those in the labor force, have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. COVID-19 and Gender Equality: According to a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute in the year 2020 to counteract regressive impact, women are more vulnerable and prone to COVID-19-related economic effects due to current gender disparities. According to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, women’s already low labor participation rate has dropped to 11%, compared to 71 percent for men, following the pandemic.
In India, women do not have the same access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities as men. The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, which uses pre-pandemic results, ranks India 112th out of 153 countries. Women contribute just 18 percent of the country’s economic production despite accounting for 48 percent of the population.
After the huge gap of national lockdown, India’s $2.7 trillion economy is slowly reopening. The world’s second-largest labor market was temporarily shut down to avoid the spread of COVID-19, but it came at a high price on many fronts. The unemployment rate is at an all-time high of 23%. According to studies, the number of people living in poverty will increase by more than 12 million.
The return of male migrant laborers from towns and cities has resulted in a further decline in rural women’s economic opportunities. Private agricultural jobs as well as social security programs including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are included (MGNREGA). This will result in greater income insecurity among women and a rapid decline in their control over market income, both of which are important predictors of household happiness and food security.
During economic downturns, food and nutrition insecurity worsens. Gender inequality, on the other hand, is worsening. Women, according to cultural beliefs, are the first to go hungry when resources are scarce; even in normal times, Indian women eat nutrient-dense foods less often than men.
In India, one-third of married women claim they have been subjected to spousal physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Loss of employment and solitary confinement under lockdown can cause increased stress, especially among women. This could lead to an increase in domestic violence based on gender. This could exacerbate investments in child education, wellness, and nutrition, as higher rates of maternal stress and depression have been related to child development outcomes.
COVID-19 would exacerbate current social and economic disparities for Indian women unless policy is strengthened. So, what can be done to assist women as the Indian economy opens up even more?
The first priority should be to restore pre-existing health services and social safety net schemes for women and girls. This includes everything including home delivery of public supplementary nutrition services and nutrition counselling. Second, the provisions that influence women’s economic and social empowerment at the community level need to be in their place.
The self-help groups should be served the needs of the pandemic to the women. Third, the gender related data on employment and health impacts should be collected to help inform policy decisions. There should be more involvement of women lawmakers and post-pandemic recovery plans is also vital. The southern state of Kerala, which has been praised for successfully containing the virus with a combination of medical and caring measures, has a female health minister. This may not be just a coincidence. Putting women in leadership positions in local government can ensure greater investment in public goods that serve women’s globally, gender inequalities have worsened during pandemics. For India to avoid this fate, it must power female agency and adopt more gender-inclusive policy planning and implementation to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
The job loss has impacted women a lot, this pandemic has made the scenario worst for the women also it has increased their unpaid work and has put extra burden on women through increased domestic responsibilities like house hold work child responsibility. If continued, women will be squeezed out of the productive economy soon. And without women it wont take more of time or some years to drag down the economy of India, it will be affected a lot if the same scenario continues for some more time.
This is a very serious debate on gender equality which cannot continue anymore just on papers we have to make a change and instead of just being on papers we should convert them into actions only which will lead India to the path of recovery. Although the package by the central government aims to provide support to the vulnerable groups is not enough there should be a gender-neutral validation at a big scale. Till the time gender lens is missing from policymaking and all these social norms, orthodox and stereotypes continue to flaw and hinder women’s participation in economic activities, all the actions that are achieved will become moot.
To only state that the coming time will tell that weather India rises to the challenge will only fool because the perfect time to rise is now. the future is all about the gender equality, gender inclusive now we need to decide what we have to choose to make a strong and equal society or leave half of the population to wobble on the edges. The choice is ours and we need to be sensible and wise about it.
“It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.”
– Emma Watson
Indic Feminism 