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

Abstract

The report discusses the impact of the COVID-19-associated national lockdown and the subsequent unlock period on the lives and livelihood of women construction workers in Delhi. A mixed-methods approach involving telephone surveys and in-depth interviews with stakeholders and women workers was used to understand the impact of the pandemic on paid work, unpaid household and care work of women workers and their access to essential resources and services. The study found the construction industry to be severely affected when the pandemic hit in March, with the maximum brunt on women workers who mainly did low-end jobs that could be easily replaced by machines. Women workers also saw a significant increase in their unpaid household and care work because schools were closed and unemployed household members remained at home even after the lockdown was lifted. While those without ration cards or Aadhar cards faced significant shortages in food, most of them borrowed from relatives and considerably depleted their savings to get access to food, water and medicines. Access to healthcare was also severely limited both during and after the lockdown since government hospitals were busy treating COVID-19 patients and neglected other serious diseases.