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It didn't take too long for the COVID-19 pandemic to head towards an economic and labour market crisis. Very early into the lockdowns and the restrictions enforced across the world, several estimates were made on the impending job losses and dip in labour income globally.
In India, it was estimated that around 130 million jobs would be lost and the employment loss would be accompanied by growing inequality, depletion of family savings, and food insecurity within households. But who among the vulnerable are the most vulnerable?
Experience shows that the populations most affected by the economic downturn during health crises are the the young people, the gender minorities, women, ‘unprotected workers’ (like the self-employed) and migrant workers, among others.
The crisis has several gendered implications for India’s labour market.
Breaks in supply chains — both in production of goods and services, as well as in market demand — have rendered all enterprises more vulnerable, taking them to the verge of collapse.
There is, sadly, growing global evidence that women-led businesses are two times more likely to permanently shut their operations in the current crisis.
Despite best efforts to credit Rs 500 to the Jan Dhan accounts of over 4 crore women as lockdown relief from early April, by the end of June, 40 percent of those women did not receive funds due to dormancy of their accounts and the remoteness of the rural locations where they live in.
The cash crunch and job loss has made employment guarantee schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) the only opportunity for wage earning.
Yet through the COVID crisis, it’s women who have been at the forefront of the response — whether as front-line health workers or as leaders of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Moving forward, it is critical to ensure that these grassroots champions continue to have access to resources and opportunities to lead us all back to resilience.
The government has already taken steps towards alleviating the economic shock brought about by the pandemic. Applying a gender lens and further expanding opportunities for wage security, and prioritizing support for women’s enterprises and collective enterprises, can help hasten the economic recovery.
To start with, MGNREGA offers high potential to not only generate wage employment and local assets, but also helps address women’s unpaid work, particularly in water and fodder collection.
States such as Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, and West Bengal have demonstrated how convergence with other flagship programs like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the integration of SHGs and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) can help with demand generation and building community assets.
Secondly, while policy responses and stimulus packages, such as the use of Community Investment Fund (CIF) and Vulnerability Reduction Fund (VRF) under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), have offered support to rural women’s groups, a clearer roadmap on how this support can strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem more broadly, including in urban areas, would be helpful.
There has been impressive work done by women’s collectives, particularly by rural SHGs under NRLM, in re-purposing their businesses to produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sanitizers, etc. in response to the COVID crisis.
Kerala and Odisha have already leveraged women’s collectives in setting up community kitchens and producing take-home-ration (THR). Telangana has explored integrating ICDS infrastructure for providing childcare facilities under MGNREGA. Kerala’s experience with Kudumbasree groups highlights the importance of a long-term and holistic approach of the economic and social development agenda going hand-in-hand to create resilient community institutions.
We can all learn from these diverse experiences and continue center-staging women’s voices and leadership to ‘build back better’.
(Subhalakshmi Nandi is the Gender Lead and Saachi Bhalla is the Gender and Nutrition Specialist, at the India Country Office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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Published: 01 Aug 2020,11:28 AM IST