More women lost their jobs during Covid-19 lockdown than men: Report

More women than men suffered loss of jobs and livelihoods following the strict lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new survey, the Times of India reported.

The informal workers' survey, conducted between May-June by a civil society organisation group - ActionAid Association - covered 11,537 workers across 20 states, of which about 28 per cent (3,221) were women.

Among the sample, over 79 per cent were women were left unemployed following the nation-wide lockdown compared to men. Also, about over 51 per cent of women reported receiving no wages during the lockdown period.

Prior to the lockdown, about 90 per cent of women were working and for men, the number stood at 85 per cent.

However, by mid-May, when the coronavirus lockdown was most in intense, the share of unemployed women rose to 79 per cent. About 75 per cent men lost their jobs during the lockdown.

Domestic workers were hit the hardest. About 85 per cent of them lost work and with no income, almost 99 per cent had to rely on their savings, while 68 per cent of them had to resort for loans. The report also highlighted several challenges faced by domestic and weeding workers, farm labourers along with women who make beedis and waste workers.

A majority of the domestic workers reside in urban areas (about 88 per cent) and merely 11.5 per cent of them in rural areas. About 40 per cent of the responders said they migrated for work.

The survey also showed that more women are not getting paid for work than men. Over half of the female responders were reported of not receiving any wages as opposed to 46 per cent of males.

The employment growth rate declined to 3.5 per cent in FY20 from 3.8 per cent in the previous fiscal year, but the total number of jobs increased to 50.02 lakh from 48.32 lakh, according to a CARE Ratings report.

In terms of sectors, four industries accounted for around 61 per cent of jobs, led by IT (23 per cent), banking (22 per cent), auto (9 per cent) and finance (7 per cent). Textiles, which at one time was a leading employer, was fifth in the hierarchy with share of 2.4 per cent. Ten industries saw a decline in headcounts.