The Persistent Problem

Originally published on Medium on DEC 13, 2020

Collating the adverse effects of the novel coronavirus on the life of average Indian women and the social structure surrounding them; we, Shreya Thakkar and I worked together to address the rising gender inequality and cultural norms that devalue women’s roles in society and in the workforce. As young women who grew up in Indian towns across the country, listening to how women are supposed to behave and abide by the social and traditional customs, we both have found a new home in Los Angeles for the time being — we empathize with what our sisters and country are going through. For those who don’t know the impact of COVID-19 on women of India, here are a snippet of emotion, statistics, and factoids to create a frame of reference for you.

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Be it mothers who are working from home, individuals locked up with their violent partners, or women losing their jobs, we are witnessing a warped impact of the Novel Coronavirus on women worldwide. The pandemic has heightened the existing gender inequity around the globe. India, a land that prays to and creates myths of respect for women has been a leader of inequity to their one of the many undeclared second-class citizens. McKinsey’s recent report on COVID-19 and gender equality highlights that “India women made up 20 percent of the workforce before COVID-19; their share of job losses resulting from the industry mix alone is estimated at 17 percent, but unemployment surveys suggest that they actually account for 23 percent of overall job losses.” A country where women still face harsh criticism and struggle to be a part of the workforce, they are the ones continuing to struggle unsurprisingly.

From 2005 to 2018, female labor participation in India declined to 21 percent from about 32 percent, one of the lowest rates in the world. The labor participation rate for men also dropped — India is experiencing a youth boom and has not been able to create enough new jobs to keep up — but as extensively as they did for women. Economists have offered several explanations for the slide, including a cultural one: As India’s economy expanded, families that could afford to keep women at home did so, thinking it afforded them a degree of social status.

The magnitude of the inequality is striking: Using data and trends from unemployment surveys in the United States and India, where gender-disaggregated data are available, we estimate that female job loss rates due to COVID-19 are about 1.8 times higher than male job loss rates globally, at 5.7 percent versus 3.1 percent respectively.

Source: COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects, McKinsey & Co Report

A nation of 1.3 Billion, India faced additional setbacks since the imposition of Novel Coronavirus Lockdown. Women were already dropping out of the labor force and the restrictions threatened even more losses for them. Ms Rajagopalan told The New York Times, “I really worry about this — We still think of men as being the primary breadwinners of our families, and if we have to make choices about letting people go, women will lose their jobs. It doesn’t matter how desperately they need them, or how hard they work.” Since women have long been an expendable part of the workforce in India, they have been without a contract in many sectors including hospitality and manufacturing; making them the easiest targets of mass lay-offs. Moreover, since the lockdown went into effect, India’s leading matrimony websites have reported 30 percent surges in new registrations. Experts say, arranged marriages may also increase, with families seeing these unions as a way to secure their daughters’ futures. Marriage does not necessarily translate into a loss of employment; but it often constrains women’s autonomy, making it difficult for them to leave secluded villages where policing of their choices is common, patriarchal values are ironclad and job opportunities are scarce. Additionally, women perform 9.6 times more unpaid care work than men, about three times the global average, the burden of which has only increased since the pandemic took hold of the country — according to the International Labour Organization.

As two young women who made a run for another country, in pursuit of education and safer life, we do feel guilty that our fellow women are facing not just casual sexual harassment at work, but the fear of losing their economic independence because girls in India are required to stay quiet and in the kitchen.