Pandemic Impacts~II Jaydev Jana | New Delhi | June 6, 2021 https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/pandemic-impactsii-1502971175.html
The pandemic in India has had an unequal impact on women in many ways. In terms of economic opportunity, women are losing jobs at a disproportionate rate compared to men, with four out of every ten working women having lost their jobs post the lockdown. Fewer have been able to rejoin the labour force. Levels of unpaid work have risen dramatically.
The number of workers vulnerable to lockdown could reach 364 million or more, including those in casual work, self-employment and unprotected regular job holders. Between March and April 2021, the male WPR had fallen from 63.4 per cent while the female WPR had come down from 8.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent. The numbers of pseudo-employment, or work that does not generate any income, had increased among self-employed people. Many of these people have been opening their business units, workshops or production centres, but hardly receiving any customers because of the pandemic and local lockdowns. The slow economic growth impacted rural India disproportionally.