Date
10-Jun-2021 to 10-Jun-2021 		Location
Virtual		 Format
International

Dr. Kaustuv K. Bandyopadhyay, Director of PRIA, joined the BRICS Civil Forum 2021 on the panel to discuss the Gendered Impact of COVID-19.

Held on June 4, 2021, the panel provided an excellent opportunity for Dr. Bandyopadhyay to shed light on the situation in India. COVID-19 had very clear and immediate impacts on women's lives and livelihoods, and they were closely linked with social empowerment (or disempowerment). Among those impacts that Dr. Bandyopadhyay covered were:

  1. The increased burden of unpaid work
  2. Job losses
  3. Reduced skill development opportunities
  4. Sexual harassment at work
  5. Higher COVID-fatality (most likely due the result of poorer nutrition and higher comorbidities caused by gender inequalities)

While addressing the issue of employment, Dr. Bandyopadhyay pointed to a World Bank finding which stated India’s female labour force participation rate fell to 20.3% in 2020.  According to CMIE, over 10 million Indians have lost their jobs because of the second wave of COVID-19. Another study he brought up found that “women were seven times more likely to lose work during the pandemic and nationwide lockdown, and, conditional on losing work, eleven times more likely to not return to work, compared to men.”

All of this has an adverse effect on women's economic status, financial independence, bargaining power, and decision-making in the household, Dr. Bandyopadhyay noted. Support from the State has also been lacking. For example, two youth-focussed and nationwide flagship schemes — the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). "None of these schemes," Dr. Bandyopadhyay observes, "have shown any priority for women. The only women focussed programme - Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) – has the smallest budget allocation."

In his general assessment of the institutional response to the economic situation and needs of women in India, Dr. Bandyopadhyay raised many pertinent questions. He also made suggestions on how governments, both local and central, might go forward in addressing the gender gaps.