Emerging from the Lockdown: Insights from Women Home-Based Workers’ Lives in Delhi

Abstract

The report discusses the impact of COVID-19 associated national lockdown and the subsequent unlock period on the lives and livelihood of women home-based workers in Delhi. A mixed-method approach involving telephonic survey 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 that while home-based workers who are part of cooperatives and producer companies have received some work during and after the lockdown, individual home-based workers have been unable to join online platforms to sell their products or shift to in-demand work like mask production and food supply chains. It also revealed that continued school closure and widespread unemployment has led to a significant increase in household and care work for women since more household members stay back at home as compared to other times. Additionally, access to food, education, and healthcare have also been seen to be severely affected by increasing financial distress and the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards non-COVID diseases.