Gauging the impact of a pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of female domestic worker across Indian cities

Abstract

Domestic workers are one of the most unprotected groups of the global workforce in informal employment who remain outside the ambit of social security and legal protection. Despite their significant contribution to the economy and society, they are often invisible and undervalued. The pre-existing adversities and vulnerabilities became all the more evident during the recent health crisis. While different groups of workers faced constraints to support their livelihood, the women domestic workers were hardest hit, facing total or near unemployment, job losses and economic distress. This paper attempts to analyse the impact of pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of female domestic workers in five Indian cities including Pune, Lucknow, Jhansi, Katni and Bhopal. The analytical findings from the random sample survey of 250 female domestic worker provides a temporal analysis of the impact of covid-19 on the nature of work, income, expenditure and consumption across the various cities of India. Our findings not only increase our understanding on the impact of the crisis for domestic worker but also informal workers in general. This also help inform the policy response of authorities towards addressing the exclusion of domestic workers from the ambit of the privileges that workers employ in the formal sector.