https://countercurrents.org/2022/03/gender-roles-and-their-blurred-envision/
Amidst modernization, gender inequality is rampant in this subcontinent. India ranks 140 out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, 2021. These ranks throw attention towards the developmental concerns, showing the disparities arising due to poverty as the root cause of all the major issues, huge illiteracy as the Census 2011 brings the vast literacy gap among men (82.14%) and female (65.46%), and unawareness among women about their fundamental rights.
Covid pandemic has hit the world at its worst bringing unprecedented losses. India is facing an indication of the fourth wave, this June. Women in India are at higher risk of getting exposed to the virus due to the lack of resources. The majority of them cover the health force, where 80% are employed as nurses or midwives (frontline workers). Although wage inequality persists in India, the burden of unpaid care alarmingly rose for women during Covid lockdown as a significant proportion of their time goes after performing unpaid household chores, and looking after the elders, children, and sick. A report by APU stated that 47% of women lost their jobs as compared to the 7% of their male counterparts during the first wave of lockdown.
by Madhubrota Chatterjee and Kaibalyapati Mishra
11/03/2022