The 30th Foreign Correspondent Report

No help for helping hands– Impact of COVID‐19 on female domestic workers in India
Disha Arora (India)
COVID‐19 has earned itself a popular tag of “pandemic of inequality.” This title rightly fits the virus asits effects vary according to the inequalities in place. The poor are suffering more; marginalizedcommunities are more at risk while developed countries (except for few) can cope up better due tohigher resources. This makes it clear that the effect of COVID‐19 on different population groups is notuniform. Domestic workers are one such population group that has faced severe challenges due toCOVID‐19. This article examines the case of the impact of COVID‐19 on female domestic workers inIndia.

Domestic labor in India
According to the ILO, around 3 million women in India are employed in domestic labor. However, this isa severe underestimation of the actual number of domestic laborers which is estimated to be in
between 20 million to 80 million, thus suggesting that the exact number of female domestic laborers isalso relatively high (source: ILO, 2020). The domestic labor group in India represents extreme
marginalization which is defined by economic class, caste, urban migration etc. Women under this groupface multiple disadvantages on account of socio‐cultural conditions. Most of the labor laws in India do
not apply to domestic laborers. Thus, the worsened impact of COVID‐19 on female domestic workers is acombined effect of the absence of protective laws and socio‐economic conditions.

Millions of female domestic workers were pushed into extreme poverty during COVID‐19.
PHOTO BY DIPLEENA SAIKIA1/2

Impact of COVID‐19
Despite the predictability of this problem, it was not appropriately tackled at the macro‐level, which
resulted in several losses for this group.
Most of the domestic workers in India are migrants, and they (especially lower‐income migrants) often
do not own housing at the location they migrate to. Bearing rent of housing thus became a serious
problem for domestic workers.
Another major crisis was the lack of food security caused by economic losses among the domestic laborclass. Although the government announced the distribution of basic ration for low‐income households,
like many other workers in the Indian informal sector, women in domestic labor workforce face the lackof documentation (such as ration cards, residency proof etc.). This made many domestic laborers
incapable of availing the benefits of specific government schemes started as a response to COVID‐19.

Reasons for crisis
The biggest reason for this effect on women in the domestic labor force was the lack of any specificgovernment sanctions for the target group. An indefinite nationwide lockdown was announced on
March 23, 2020. This lockdown imposed several mobility and economic restrictions, making domestic
laborers incapable of continuing their employment. Several Resident Welfare Associations imposed
restrictions on the entry of domestic laborers into housing societies during the lockdown and even after
that. Women in domestic labor workforce also faced stigma on account of being potential virus carriers,
making their situation even more difficult.

Measures to alleviate the crisis
We can argue that the significant reason for crisis borne by female domestic laborers is the absence ofspecific state intervention. The approach to handle this crisis must be two‐fold ‐ immediate relief
measures and long‐term solutions. The immediate actions can include more inclusive economic
packages for low‐income groups, desensitization of community to remove the stigma against domestic
workers, and the creation of alternate employment opportunities. The long‐term solutions involve
revamping of the informal sector by strengthening labor laws pertaining to this sector.

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