Emerging from the Lockdown : Insights from Women Domestic Workers' Lives in Delhi

Abstract

Using a mixed-methods approach of telephone survey and in-depth interviews with stakeholders and women workers, this study aims to assess the impact that the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown had on women domestic workers and map the way their situation changed once the lockdown was lifted. It finds that the lockdown had a severe impact on work and income, with almost 80% of the respondents stating that they experienced job loss during that period. The study also highlights that even when the lockdown was lifted, workers were not able to return to work immediately due to fear of disease among their employers. For those who were able to get back to work, there was a significant decline in the number of houses where they were able to get employment compared to the number of houses where they used to work prior to the pandemic. The study also highlights the new Covid-19 norms that workers now have to follow when they go for work and argues that the paid work situation for these workers remains far from what it used to be before the lockdown was imposed. In terms of unpaid work, the report finds that workers now bear an increased burden in both inside household work as well as caring for young children. They were found to be under extreme stress due to the financial crisis that they were suffering and were also found to be struggling with accessing essential goods and services including, food, water, fuel, children’s education and healthcare services for diseases other than Covid-19. The study recommends that as immediate measures domestic workers should be provided with free ration kits until their paid work situation stabilises. It also recommends that the government must fast-track the registration of domestic workers to the Unorganized Workers Social Security Board as well as bring out a minimum wage notification for the workers to ensure that they are protected from social and economic vulnerabilities.