Half-way into a year dominated by the pandemic, students and their families are confronting a health crisis, an economic crisis and social issues all at one time heightening a tragic existential problem from all fronts. The post virus era looks bleak and grim for many economically hard hit. In this scenario women have had to face the brunt of the lockdown and its adversities.
We come across women workers everyday - at construction sites, , as street vendors, as domestic workers, as tailors mostly daily wage earners. The last few months have seen great hardship due to the lockdown. These workers have hardly been able to go out to earn a living.Even during normal times, we do not see the travails faced by a women worker in informal sector; her struggles, her distress, and the discrimination she faces at every stage... With little or no savings and uncertain work, these already indebted workers have no option but to depend on government doles for survival.
At our Chamundinagar Centre we train the neighborhood women in various skill generating work. We do this round the year but since the lockdown there has been a forced gap until recently. We now have taken baby steps to help women generate some income to keep the home stoves burning.