Impact of Lockdown for COVID-19 on Female Domestic Workers: A Case Study from Cuttack City

Abstract

The female domestic workers are categorised under informal and unskilled job without any constitutional guarantees. With passage of time due to declination of joint families and entrance of more number of women into the employment sector has given rise to need for a supporting hand to work inside the home. On the other hand female domestic workers are providing financial security to the socio-economically poor families. But, due to lockdown the female domestic workers, who are vital to the smooth functioning of homes, are facing trepidation. The onset of travel restriction affected their livelihood and income security due to lack of social protection. They are in threat of dismissal from job when not reporting to their work in fear of infection of COVID-19. Thus, this piece of work tries to find out the impact of lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic covering 100 female domestic workers as respondents from Cuttack city of Odisha.

Keywords: Female Domestic Worker, Unorganized Sector, Starvation, Livelihood, Gender perspective

JEL Classification: Z10, Z22