COVID-19 Pandemic and Migrant Women Domestic Workers: The Need for Policy Deliberations

Abstract

The unprecedented socio-economic scenario induced by the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 adversely hit the lives of millions across the globe. When a lockdown was declared in India on March 24, 2020 as a preventive measure to avoid the spread of the pandemic, the migrant workers whose livelihood depended upon daily wages lost their jobs, and among these workers were women who were engaged in domestic work with total dependence on the income from their employment in working at households. This research paper throws light on the plight of women who struggled to secure a decent income during the pandemic and consequently faced difficulties in psycho-social fronts. The study followed a sequential explanatory design sampling 15 migrant women domestic workers employed in Bangalore city during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. The results of the study throw light on how the population under study struggles on the economic front, which in turn adversely affects their mental health and quality of life. A critical evaluation of the policies and programmes expose how the state measures are inadequate in ensuring the bare minimum necessities of migrant women domestic workers, signaling the need for social action through lobbying for more humanitarian legislations that ensure social security of the underprivileged.